faults, will soon find himself able to write good paragraphs, whether as complete themes or as related parts of longer compositions. Any one who has had considerable practice in writing paragraph themes is not likely to produce, in his longer essays, what may for convenience be called the "undeveloped paragraph." This type of paragraph, which occurs with annoying frequency in students' themes, has a beginning and an end, but no substantial body. The central thought is stated, but either from laziness or lack of material, it is not sufficiently developed and enforced. Every paragraph, whether it is complete in itself or only a part of a longer composition, should have an appreciable body; and this fact the student is likely to realize from his experience in writing paragraph themes. Almost any kind of subject-narrative, descriptive, expository, or argumentative - can be treated in the paragraph theme. Care should always be taken, however, that the subject be sufficiently restricted in scope and entirely familiar to the writer. The following paragraph themes, which students have written as class-exercises, are quoted not as models of perfect composition, but as fair illustrations of the quality of work that can be produced and the range of subjects that can be treated. The first paragraph is a short narrative. The second example is descriptive. The third is a brief description and characterization. In the fourth exposition and description are combined. The last is a short argumentative paragraph written as an editorial for a college paper. I. A FOOLISH TRICK One day, when another boy and I were out hunting, we came to an old oil-well. The derrick had been taken away and the well "plugged." On approaching the well we heard a bubbling sound which we immediately knew to be escaping gas. As the odor of the gas was very faint, we concluded that not much was escaping, and we decided to light it. So I threw a lighted match over the well, but the gas would not ignite. I then removed the "plug" and threw a lighted match down into the hole. No sooner had I done this than there was a violent explosion. The fire, bursting forth from the well, blew my hat off, singed my hair and eyebrows, and scorched my clothes. The gas which had collected in the well had exploded. After the explosion the fire went out, as there was not enough gas escaping to keep it going. 2. A QUEER CRAFT Some years ago, in company with a fellow-student, I took a trip down the Susquehanna in a boat different from any that I have ever seen. Those who had no personal interest in it called it a scow; and, indeed, its square ends, only a little narrower than the middle, its flat bottom and low sides, made it much like a scow. Then, too, its motion was scow-like; it moved with equal ease and rapidity in any direction, – forward, backward, or sidewise. But that which gave it distinction was the superstructure. Instead of the stationary cabin of the ordinary house-boat, it had movable wooden posts placed in sockets at the ends and sides, so as to form a sort of picket fence as high as a man's head. Over this framework a canvas roof was drawn, with curtains for the sides, to shut out sun and rain. Along each side of the boat was a row of strong hooks, on which was fastened at night a heavy canvas deck to serve as a bed. On rare days, when the weather was fair and the wind favorable, the roof and the curtains and all the posts except the one at the forward end were taken down. With a rude sail rigged on this post, and a board nailed to the side to serve as a keel, we could make four or five miles an hour. For the most part, however, our boat moved only with the current. A strange craft it must have looked from the shore as it drifted aimlessly down the stream, the white canvas almost covering the gray woodwork, and seeming to rest on the very water like a floating tent. 3. FATHER HARLEY Father Harley was a familiar personage to the children of B—. His title of "Father" had no ecclesiastical significance, for he was only a country pack-pedler. It was a tribute of respect for his age and of affection for his kindly character. I can see him still as he used to come up the single street of the little town with a troop of children at his heels. He always wore a long black coat, a faded velvet waistcoat, and a loose cravat such as one sometimes sees in portraits of fifty years ago. His white hair, worn long enough to fall on his coat collar, and his flat-brimmed silk hat made his appearance still more old-fashioned. His face had the clear, rosy complexion of healthy old age; his eyes, a little dimmed and watery, gleamed kindly through his huge iron spectacles; and the serious lines of his mouth were always ready to break into a smile at the antics of the attendant children. Only the little pack of notions supported on his shoulder prevented the passer-by from taking him for an aged clergyman who had clung to the fashions of his youth. Father Harley has been long in his grave, but I am sure that none of the boys and girls who once clung about him has forgotten his venerable and antiquated figure. 4. A MACHINE FOR CLEANING CRANBERRIES For a long time the growers of cranberries in the lowlands of New Jersey and other cranberry-producing localities were perplexed over the problem of how to separate the soft and worthless fruit from the sound berries without the slow and expensive method of picking them all over by hand. The cranberries, as they come from the bogs, where they have been raked from the vines, are mixed with bad berries, leaves, and other impurities. Some years ago it was discovered that a perfectly sound cranberry is a remarkably elastic body. When it falls from a height it rebounds like a rubber ball. The cleaning machine takes advantage of this property. The mass of uncleaned berries is led through a spout sufficiently inclined to allow them to move with a moderate speed. From the end of the spout the fruit falls several feet upon a sheet of glass which is slightly inclined, and to which is given, by means of a hand-wheel, a gentle shaking motion. On all sides of this glass rises a kind of wooden partition several inches high. The sound cranberries, when they strike the glass, rebound nimbly over this partition into a trough which leads into a large bin; while the soft berries and other rubbish do not rebound, but slide down over the glass into a waste-box below the machine. 5. HONESTY IN COLLEGE WORK There is one phase of "sponging" of which we have never heard any one speak: it is the injustice to the student who is honest in all his college work both in the class-room and in examination. At the present time the college offers cash prizes amounting to nearly one thousand dollars, for which men may compete during their course; and the deciding point is almost entirely a matter of high grades. Again, the faculty is just now making a trial of exemption from examination in the case of students who attain a certain per cent in their class-room work. Finally, membership in the honorary fraternity Phi Kappa Phi is almost entirely a question of high grades. Since so much depends on one's class standing, it seems to us that no one should be so lost to a sense of honor as to put one of his classmates at a disadvantage in order to help or to save himself. It seems strange, too, that one man will allow another, by unfair means, to gain better grades and thus stand a better chance for material benefits. Surely no man would, without some protest, allow another to steal his books or his purse. Why, then, should one man allow another to steal from him class honors and prizes? If college men will not be honest because they ought to be, they certainly should be forced into an honest course by those whom they wrong, and by the moral sentiment of the college community. EXERCISES1 I. Write a narrative paragraph on one of the following subjects: 1. An Exciting Experience. 2. A Comical Situation. 3. A Pitiful Story. 4. An Act of Kindness. 5. An Heroic Deed. 6. An Amusing Incident. 7. A Bit of Adventure. 8. My Father's Favorite Story. 9. A Street-car Incident. 10. An Introduction to the President. 11. A Bicycle Accident. 12. My Experience with a Runaway Horse. 13. An Unpleasant Predicament. 14. A Schoolboy Prank. 16. Among the Fakirs. 17. Hauling in the Net. 18. How I Captured a Hornets' 19. One of my Mistakes. 22. My Experience with a Burg- 23. My Earliest Recollection. 25. The Funniest Story I ever 1 After the writing of daily paragraph themes has begun, the student may, throughout his course, constantly draw upon the lists of subjects given in this group of exercises. II. Write a descriptive paragraph on one of the following subjects, or on some subject suggested by the following list: III. Each of the following brief sentences may be used as the cen tral thought of an expository paragraph. subject of a paragraph theme: Take any one of them as the 1. Football is a scientific game. 2. It does not pay to worry. 3. The farmer's life is the most healthful. 4. A man's face and bearing are an index to his character. 5. Is criticism a good thing? 6. College life is strenuous. 7. Composition is a difficult art. 8. Lincoln was the typical American. 9. Human life is the subject-matter of literature. 10. The habit of reading is a valuable help in composition work. II. A student has particular need to take good care of his eyes. 12. Climate influences character. 13. The wearing of Panama hats is an expensive fad. 14. The life of a country doctor is a hard one. 15. For various reasons a student has trouble in preparing his Monday lessons. 16. Accuracy is one of the essentials of sound scholarship. 17. A coal mine is a dangerous place. 18. A student needs recreation. 19. Many students fail in their work because they are too fond of social pleasures. |