scarcely room for one. But in a composition of some length, e. g., one that seems to require an introduction and a conclusion, such a paragraph may be a desirable feature. By means of it the writer can sum up the details of description or of narration before passing to a different part of the subject. It is especially useful in exposition and in argument, as a means of summing up phenomena pointing to a common cause, or causes operating toward a common result. In addition to the quotations in § 18, the following deserves careful study. In it Burke sums up the six causes or sources of the peculiar spirit of liberty in America, sketching briefly that spirit in its outward manifestations. The first sentence of the succeeding paragraph is also given here, to exhibit Burke's manner of passing to a fresh aspect of his subject:

Then, sir, from these six capital sources: of Descent; of Form of Government; of Religion in the Northern Provinces; of Manners in the Southern; of Education; of the Remoteness of Situation from the First Mover of Government; from all these causes a fierce Spirit of Liberty has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your Colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a Spirit that, unhappily meeting with an exercise of Power in England, which, however lawful, is not reconcileable to any ideas of Liberty, much less with theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us.

I do not mean to commend either the Spirit in this excess, or the moral causes which produce it, etc.-BURKE: Conciliation, p. 184.

THE TITLE.

127. The most prolific source of error among young writers is the confusion of Subject (see § 121) and Title. The Subject is the main thing, and the Title is, in strictness, only an after-thought, a label or name, convenient for distinguishing one composition from another.

Frequently, perhaps usually, the title is not even a complete sentence, but only a phrase, a word or two, a proper name. This is exemplified in the following list of titles, taken from about forty high-school compositions submitted

in competition for the same prize: Woman's Work, Municipal Government, The White City, Our Birds, Forestry, Our Debt to Holland. Many of the compositions betrayed the writer's inability to distinguish between subject and title. He, or she, had written upon the title, instead of first formulating the subject. Hence lack of purpose, coherence, and force. The papers upon The White City, as might have been expected, were the most incoherent. Everything connected in any way with the great Chicago exhibition was apparently regarded as legitimate. Yet one writer, at least, drew the line between description and exposition. Evidently he had formulated his purpose: I will first describe those objects which impressed me most, and then I will state what I learned from them about our country's present and prospective greatness. His composition, accordingly, was methodical. The only serious defect in its structure was the absence of link-paragraphs, a feature peculiarly desirable in writing upon a subject which is without organic unity.

The following directions can be safely commended to all writers, young or old:

1. Complete your composition according to the method taught in §§ 121-126.

2. When it is completed, prefix-as Title- a short phrase suggestive of the real subject.

E. g., in the list cited above, the composition entitled Our Birds might have been named, more suggestively, Habits of the Undomesticated Birds of New York; the one upon Forestry might have been named The Need of the Study of Forestry in America.

In general, the scholar should not try to follow the lead of poets, novelists, and other imaginative writers in their choice or invention of titles. Sights and Insights may do' for Mrs. Whitney's volume of travels; Aftermath, for a volume of Longfellow's poems; Sartor Resartus, for Carlyle's memorable essay; Præterita, for Ruskin's autobiog

raphy. But such titles are too fanciful for the young. The prime duty of youth is to learn to be direct and explicit. Fancy, if genuine, will find its expression soon enough in after-life.

CHAPTER XIV.

PUNCTUATION.

PUNCTUATION is the art of using certain signs with a view to making the grammatical or rhetorical construction more obvious to the eye. Under Punctuation is here included the use of Capitals and Italics; also WordBreaking.

The more usual signs of punctuation proper may be classified in two groups. In the first group are the Notes of Interrogation and Exclamation, the Period, Colon, Semicolon, and Comma. In the second, the Dash, Parenthesis, Bracket, and Marks of Quotation.

INTERROGATION-EXCLAMATION.

128. The sign of Interrogation is to be placed at the end of every direct question; e. g.:

Why do you neglect your duty?

Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?-1 Cor. ix. 7. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?-Hamlet, v. 1, 179.

Note, in the last quotation, the sign of interrogation placed after the relative clause, “that were . . . on a roar.” After an indirect question the sign of interrogation is not used, but the ordinary sign of punctuation. E. g.:

He demands to know why you neglect your duty.

Hamlet asks where poor Yorick's gibes are now, his gambols, songs, flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar.

The sign of Exclamation is placed after a strong ejaculation or clearly-marked vocative case. E. g.:

Alas, poor Yorick!

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!-Ps. lxxxiv. 1 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion !-Ps. liii. 6.

The use of the (!) is much less subject to rule than the use of the (?). The King James Bible translation is not consistent in its use of (!). E. g.:

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper. -P8. xxx. 10.

It may be doubted, in fact, whether any two books agree, or any one book is perfectly self-consistent. Thus,

compare:

If you do not fall in with this motion, then secure something to fight for, consistent in theory and valuable in practice. If you must employ your strength, employ it to uphold you in some honourable right, or some profitable wrong.-BURKE: American Taxation, p. 152.

with the same thought, more passionately expressed:

Do you mean to tax America, and to draw a profitable revenue from thence? If you do, speak out; name, fix, ascertain this revenue; settle its quantity; define its objects; provide for its collection; and then fight when you have something to fight for. If you murder—rob! if you kill-take possession! and do not appear in the character of madmen, as well as assassins, violent, vindictive, bloody, and tyrannical, without an object. But may better counsels guide you!-Burke: American Taxation, p. 154.

The punctuation would have been more consistent. thus:

If you do, speak out! Name, fix. . . and then fight when you have something to fight for!

The best advice that one can give to the young is to be very sparing in the use of the sign of exclamation. Use the sign only when you are fully conscious that your feeling is intense, or that you are directly addressing some person or some personified object. A composition dotted over with (!) is evidence of mental hysteria; to correct such