In the chapter on the Paragraph and its Development, we have found that the common methods of developing both the paragraph and the longer theme are: (1) by details, or particulars; (2) by examples; (3) by repetition; (4) by comparison and contrast; (5) by cause and effect. In a single theme perhaps all methods will be used to some extent, but at first we should be careful to confine ourselves to one method in a single paragraph. In exposition two particularly useful methods are illustration by examples and illustration by comparison and contrast. We crave the example just as we jump at the specific word, and everybody naturally makes comparisons and contrasts. However, we shall need practice in all the methods mentioned.

Exercises. Exposition By Details

582. The following paragraph has been developed by details. Write a similar paragraph on some method of fishing or some other out-of-door recreation.

One of the most picturesque methods of hunting the poor deer is called "floating." The person, with murder in his heart, chooses a cloudy night, seats himself, rifle in hand, in a canoe, which is noiselessly paddled by the guide, and explores the shore of the lake or the dark inlet. In the bow of the boat is a light in a "jack," the rays of which are shielded from the boat and its occupants. A deer comes down to feed upon the lily-pads. The boat approaches him. He looks up, and stands a moment, terrified or fascinated by the bright flames. In that moment the sportsman is supposed to shoot the deer. As an historical fact, his hand usually shakes, so that he misses the animal, or only wounds him; and the stag limps away to die after days of suffering. Usually, however, the hunters remain out all night, get stiff from cold and the cramped position in the boat, and when they return in the morning to camp, cloud their future existence by the assertion that they "heard a big buck " moving along the shore, but the people in camp made so much noise that he was frightened off. - C. D. Warner, "A-Hunting of the Deer," in "In the Wilderness."

583. Use any two of the following as topic sentences for paragraphs, and develop them by means of details:

1. Our country house is one of the most restful spots that I know.

2. Mr. Martin's new horse is a Kentucky thoroughbred.

3. Jones, Stratton, and Company have been remarkably successful since they opened their new store.

4. Elihu Grant, the Democratic candidate for mayor, has the best record of any candidate.

5. Mayville is an uninteresting town.

584. Explain one of the following, developing the paragraph by means of details: (1) how to broil steak; (2) some system of ventilation; (3) a good method of sharpening a lead pencil;

(4) some patent; (5) bread making; (6) how to make a Welsh rabbit; (7) the block system (in connection with a railway); (8) some system of heating.

585. Developing the paragraph chiefly by means of details, explain some technical term taken from one of the following: (1) music; (2) the carpenter shop; (3) mechanical drawing; (4) freehand drawing; (5) mathematics.

586. Explain orally to a stranger how to get a card, and how to draw a book, from your public library.

587. A stranger has three days for sight-seeing in your neighborhood. Write him a letter, telling him how he may spend the time to advantage.

Exposition By Examples

588. Explain orally, with as many illustrations as you choose to add, the correct use of the following words: awful, funny, cunning, lovely.

589. Add to your outlines of characters prepared in Exercise 579 illustrations by examples.

590. Develop one of the following by means of examples:

1. The way of transgressors is hard. 2. Forbearance ceases to be a virtue. 3. Ill blows the wind that profits nobody. 4. A little learning is a dangerous thing. 5. All that glisters is not gold. 6. 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.

591. Write a short theme on "My Method of memorizing Prose [or Poetry]." Develop it by a combination of details and examples. Perhaps the following outline will be helpful:

1. Illustration.

2. Each paragraph.

a. Main thought.

b. Number of sentences.

c. Substance of each sentence.

d. First several words of each sentence.

592. Explain in short paragraphs the meaning of five of the following sentences. Use examples.

1. One good turn deserves another.

2. He that complies against his will Is of the same opinion still.

3. The better part of valor is discretion.

4. A new broom sweeps clean.

5. No one is a hero to his valet.

6. Men are used as they use others. 7. Handsome is that handsome does.

8. No man ought to look a gift horse in the mouth. 9. You have hit the nail on the head.

593. Talk on one of the following subjects:

1. Honesty is the best policy. (Illustrate by examples).

2. It was clearly a time for discretion.

3. Explain how you made some such article as these: pencil tray, book rack, picture frame, stamp box, jewel case, flower trellis, napkin ring, goblet, wallet, rolling pin, gavel, dumb-bells.

Exposition By Repetition

594. The following is an example of development by repetition. Write a similar theme, taking for your topic sentence "The life of a sailor [or fireman] is a series of adventures and narrow escapes."

The life of the birds is a series of adventures and of hairbreadth escapes by flood and field. Very few of them probably die a natural death, or even live out half their appointed days. What perils beset their nests, even in the most favored localities! The cabins of the early settlers, when the country was swarming with hostile Indians, were not surrounded by such dangers. The tender households of the birds are not only exposed to hostile Indians in the shape of cats and collectors, but to numerous murderous and bloodthirsty animals, against whom they have no defense but concealment. They lead the darkest kind of pioneer life, even in our gardens and orchards, and under the walls of our houses. Not a day or a night passes, from the time the eggs are laid till the young are flown, when the chances are not greatly in favor of the nest being rifled and its contents devoured, - by owls, skunks, minks, and coons at night, and by crows, jays, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and rats during the day. Infancy, we say, is hedged about by many perils; but the infancy of birds is cradled and pillowed in peril. - John Burroughs, "Signs and Seasons."

595. In the following selection, point out instances of repetitions of words and of thought.

The Life of Johnson is assuredly a great, a very great work. Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse1 is first, and the rest nowhere. - Macaulay, "Essay on Johnson."

Exposition By Comparison And Contrast

596. Write a theme of at least three or four paragraphs, beginning with the topic sentence of the following selection. Use as much of this material as you please.

We have become a spendthrift race. Extravagance is the order of the day. James J. Hill told us the other morning that our trouble is not the high cost of living, but the cost of high living - privately and publicly the wild waste of natural resources. Four generations ago our forefathers had to their west a vast untouched continent, rich in timber, ores, and soil fertility beyond anything the white man had ever found. The entire population of the country, scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, was limited to a couple of million people. These vast natural resources were successfully exploited, our wealth increased as if by magic, and to-day our population of ninety millions has occupied the whole continent from ocean to ocean, but not without leaving its mark upon the land. Our forests, laid low by giant mills, are more than half cut. Our streams and lakes have been looted of their fish by water wheels and steam-drawn seines. Our mines of ores and coal are beginning to show signs of depletion. Our soil, with impaired fertility, now yields eighteen and twenty bushels in place of the forty of the virgin prairies. At the end of it all we are beginning to see that our national wealth is not all the product of wise and intelligent labor. Largely, we have done no more than transmute, and often recklessly, our natural resources into the uses, ornaments, extravagances of our civilization: foodstuffs, houses, clothes, railroads, palaces, monuments, elegances of living, lavish show of gold and silver. - Edward A. Rumely, "Our Public Schools as Preparatory for Practical Life."

1 Eclipse was a famous English race horse.

597. After studying the sketch of the train dispatcher on page 196, write a comparison of two persons whom you know well, or of whom you have read widely.

598. Point out significant traits in two characters in literature who are strikingly different from each other - for example; Hepzibah and Phoebe in "The House of the Seven Gables." Show that you know them as well as persons with whom you are well acquainted.

599. Be prepared to talk for one minute on one of these subjects: (1) A Home (compare a house); (2) A Village (compare a city).

600. Write a long theme on one of the following subjects: (1) The Schools of To-day (compared with those of a generation ago); (2) The "New" Football; (3) Dickens, the novelist (compared with Scott or some other writer).

Exposition By Cause And Effect

601. The following paragraph is an example of development by cause and effect. Using the same material, rewrite the paragraph to bring out more clearly the relation of cause to effect.

The mammy was the zealous, faithful, and efficient assistant of the mistress in all that pertained to the training of the children. Her authority was recognized in all that related to them directly or indirectly, second only to that of the mistress and master. She regulated them, disciplined them, having authority indeed in cases to administer correction. Her regime extended frequently through two generations, occasionally through three. From their infancy she was the careful and faithful nurse, the affection between her and the children she nursed being often more marked than that between her and her own children. She may have been harsh to the latter; she was never anything but tender with the others. Her authority was, in a measure, recognized through life, for her devotion was unquestionable. The young masters and mistresses were her "children" long after they had children of their own. They embraced her, when they parted from her or met with her again after separation, with the same affection as when in childhood she "led them smiling into sleep." She was worthy of the affection. At all times she was their faithful ally, shielding them, excusing them, petting them, aiding them, yet holding them up to a certain high accountability. Her influence was always for good. She received, as she gave, an unqualified affection; if she was a slave, she at least was not a servant, but was an honored member of the family, universally beloved, universally cared for - "the Mammy."

- Thomas Nelson Page, "The Old South."

602. Tell in one minute (1) why you would like to go to a higher institution of learning than the school you now attend; (2) under what circumstances you would be satisfied with the equivalent of a high-school education.