tance equal to the width of the letter m of the type in which the matter is set up, or of the letters m and n put together; the first word of a paragraph in typewritten matter is usually removed five spaces to the right, while in ordinary handwritten matter it is customary to remove the first word of a paragraph an inch or an inch and a half to the right of the flush line. Exercise 24 1. A common fault among young writers is the making of altogether too many indentions. Frequently enough, work is handed in in which nearly every sentence is made to stand by itself as a separate paragraph. The result is that the theme, though it may be fairly well written otherwise, seems to be a disjointed affair without logical sequence. Read the following paragraph, for instance, which is here purposely broken up and printed as if each sentence were itself a paragraph. As it stands, it is like a string of pearls without the string. But write it out with but one indention, and that at the beginning, —as it was originally written, and note the improve ment. HOW TO KNOW RIGHT AND WRONG "As to knowing right and wrong,” replied Brandon, “I think I can give you a rule which, although it may not cover the whole ground, is excellent for every-day use. It is this: Whatever makes others unhappy is wrong; whatever makes the world happier is good. As to how we are always to do this, I cannot tell you. One has to learn that by trying. We can but try, and if we fail altogether, there is still virtue in even futile effort toward the right." - CHARLES MAJOR, When Knighthood Was in Flower, chap. iii. 2. Every well-written paragraph develops some one thought. When you begin to develop that thought, you begin a new paragraph. When you have done with developing that thought, you make an end of the paragraph. This means that nothing is put into a paragraph that does not belong to the thought that is developed in it; it means also that nothing of importance that does belong to the thought that is developed in it is omitted from the paragraph. As indention is used for the purpose of marking the beginning of a paragraph, you should look to it that you use the device to mark the beginning of a real paragraph only. Never make an indention which can have no meaning. Does each indention, in the following selection, mark the beginning of a real paragraph ? THE HOBBY OF JOHN BULL, Jr. As to the matter of athletics, to which English boys are such devotees, I cannot help thinking that they are overdone, made a hobby of, and, like most hobbies in England, ridden to excess. No doubt it is a fine thing for a boy to have plenty of outdoor amusements; it is good for him to be an adept at running, leaping, climbing, swimming; but what in the world does he learn at football, the great winter game of the English schoolboy? Why do the English so neglect pastimes that would develop dexterity of hand and limb, and devote themselves to a game which seems to me to teach nothing except respect of brute force? "Oh! but it cultivates their powers of endurance," says somebody. That is true, I believe; although, from what I have seen of the two, I never could discover that an Englishman was more patient under the toothache than a Frenchman. Now, to get bruised ribs and dislocated shoulders in practising flights out of second and third story windows I should understand; an accomplishment of that kind might be useful in case of fire; but to what end does all the bruising of football tend? The game of football itself seems to be an end, and "not a means to an end," as, I believe, Mr. Matthew Arnold has remarked. Yet, behold John Bull, junior, on the football ground! The hero of a bad cause, but for all that a hero; a lusty little fellow, fearless, hardy, strong-knit, iron-muscled, and mule-headed, who, rather than let go a ball that he holds firmly in his arms, will perform feats of valor; who, simply to pass this ball between two goals, will grovel in the dust, reckless of lacerated shoulders, a broken rib or jaw-bone, and will die on a bed of suffering with a smile upon his lips if he can only hear, before closing his eyes, that his side has won the game. 3. In the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) no effort was made at paragraphing, indentions being used to mark verses only. Read The Acts, chap. xxvi, and indicate where paragraphs should begin. This is one of the chapters which Ruskin, under the direction of his mother, committed to memory when he was a boy. Read what he says in his Præterita, chaps. i-ii, about his early study of the Bible, and the effect of this study upon his style. The chapters Ruskin committed to memory are these: Exodus, xv, xx; 2 Samuel, i (from verse 17 to end); 1 Kings, viii; Psalms, xxiii, xxxii, xc, xci, ciii, cxii, cxix, cxxxix; Proverbs, ii, iii, viii, xii; Isaiah, lviii; Matthew, v, vi, vii; Acts, xxvi; 1 Corinthians, xiii, xv; James, iv; Revelation, v, vi. These chapters are printed together in a little book called The Bible and English Prose Style, edited with an introduction by Professor A. S. Cook, and published by D. C. Heath & Co. 4. A paragraph is made of each speech in a conversation. Thus : TOLD TO A CHILD "Hear the crickets holler," said Uncle Eb, as he followed the bank up into the open pasture. "What makes 'em holler?" I asked. "O, they're jes' filin' their saws an' thinkin'. Mebbe tellin' o' what's happened 'em. Been a hard day fer them little folks. Terrible flood in their country. Every one on 'em hed t' git up a steeple quick 's he could er be drownded. They hev their troubles an' they talk 'bout 'em, too." "What do they file their saws for?” I inquired. "Well, ye know," said he, "where they live the timber's thick an' they hev hard work clearin' t'mek a home.” — Irving Bacheller, Eben Holden, chap. ii. SECTION 13 The Paragraph Subject Every paragraph has its distinct subject. The difference between the subject of a paragraph and the subject of an essay or a whole composition is that the former is usually some very limited phase of the latter. The subject of any single paragraph in a whole composition is quite distinct from that of any other paragraph in the composition. In the following paragraph, for example, the subject is, "The appearance of Ichabod Crane on horseback,” a very small but essential part of the subject of the entire story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The paragraph subject is not always as apparent as this one, but it is nevertheless true that every well-written paragraph has a clearly defined subject. ICHABOD ON HORSEBACK Ichabod was a suitable figure for such a steed. He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like grasshoppers'; he carried his whip perpendicularly in his hand, like a sceptre, and, as his horse jogged on, the motion of his arms was not unlike the flapping of a pair of wings. A small wool hat rested on the top of his nose, for so his scanty strip of forehead might be called; and the skirts of his black coat fluttered out almost to the horse's tail. Such was the appearance of Ichabod and his steed as they shambled out of the gate of Hans Van Ripper, and it was altogether such an apparition as is seldom to be met with in broad daylight. - IRVING. HELPS TO STUDY: Point out the comic details in the paragraph. Find some other paragraph in which there are comic things, and note whether they are expressed in a way similar to those in Irving's paragraph. Look up the meaning of "caricature," and then find, if you can, those parts of the description that seem to be caricature. Note how life is given by the use of words of motion, “jogged on," "flapping," "shambled out." How many and what figures do you find in the paragraph? What seems to be the object of most of these? Exercise 25 Write out the subject of each paragraph in the following selection: SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS March 4, 1865 BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearance to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it — all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war- - seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part |