1. Oral Composition

On the street, in our homes, in the history recitation, from morning till night, we are composing sentences, whether in conversation or in more carefully prepared talks, called oral compositions. We should be constantly on the alert to improve our speech and to put words together in such a way that our hearers shall get the thought or the feeling we wish to give them.

2. Written Composition

At the same time we must be able to compose in writing. As by talking a man learns to talk readily, so by writing he learns to express himself with accuracy. For all of us, some form of writing is a part of the day's work, and it is for the sake of gaining the ability to write well such notes, letters, reports, and other papers as we shall be called on to prepare from time to time, that we study written composition.

3. The Practical Value Of Composition

Fortunately most of us have to work for a living, and all those who may some day be clerks in a department store, salesmen on the road, physicians, lawyers, or toilers in any one of hundreds of employments, should consider carefully the practical value of being able to say just what one means, and to say it in an agreeable way. Who will not need, on countless occasions, to write an orderly letter? It often happens that a pupil is compelled to withdraw from school before the end of the course in order to go to work. In many cases employment is obtained largely through one's ability to write a letter For example, a letter written by a first year high-school boy, who was suddenly obliged to leave school, secured him a position for which there were forty competitors.

The study of composition should do much more, however, than help us to earn our living. It should go far toward making us interesting human beings. We all know persons who have traveled but cannot tell acceptably what they have seen. We all find it pleasant to hear a story told in an agreeable way. To listen to a lively conversation between men and women who know life and books is both entertaining and instructive. And we should understand that the studies in this book are to keep us from being like tongue-tied travelers, - that they are to enable us to take our places among those whose conversation is worth while.