(1) The termite never appears above

ground, for

(a) It is blind.

(b) It has many enemies.

2. Its mode of procuring its food demands it, for

a. It builds long earthen tunnels while in quest of food, for

(1) Its quest often leads it from the ground to the tree tops, for

(a) Its food is dead wood.

(2) It never comes above ground without shelter.

B. The soil thus brought up is spread over the surface of the earth, for

1. The tunnels and mounds are in time disintegrated by the tropical winds and

rains.

2. The streams help to distribute and deposit their dust.

III. It is largely instrumental in bringing up the subsoil, for

A. It brings up great quantities of earth, for

I. Its mounds are large, for

a. The mounds of the white ant are

often thirty or forty feet in diameter and from ten to fifteen feet in height.

b. "The brick houses of the mission

aries near Lake Nyassa have all been built from a single ants' nest, and the quarry from which the material has been derived forms a pit beside the settlement some dozen feet in depth."— DRUMMOND. c. The ant-hills protect the hunters. 2. Its mounds are numerous, for

a. "They look like cemeteries from a distance."

b. "The smaller hills occur in myriads along the shores of Lake Tanganyika."

3. Its mounds extend over a large territory, for

a. They are said to abound over the whole interior of Africa.

4. Its tunnels often nearly cover the trunks and branches of trees.

5. There are whole forests of trees covered with earthen tubes.

CONCLUSION

Since, then, the white ant in building its home and sheltering tunnels brings to the surface an enormous amount of subsoil that would be brought up in no other way, and deposits it in such shape that it is

eventually distributed by wind and rain and streams over the surface of a large part of Central Africa, it may be said to be an important agricultural agency in that region.1

The untrained thinker finds it more difficult to make a brief or outline and use it than to write a paper without one. You remember that before David went out against Goliath he tried on the armor of Saul, but found that it cumbered him, and so went forth to slay the giant in his own way with his shepherd's sling. To the beginner the brief is as Saul's armor was to the boy David, a hindrance; he can do a better piece of work without it. But his object is not to do a specific piece of work well; it is to gain power to do future work well; and just as David had to learn to wear the armor of Saul and exchange the shepherd's method for the warrior's in order to lead the hosts of Israel to repeated victories, so the student must learn to make the scholar's method help rather than hinder him, if he is to do strong, effective work in the future.

By practice in brief-drawing one gains the power to plan work with certainty and facility; one comes to see ideas in their various possible relations and quickly to adjust them rightly and effectively. Readjustment is easily possible in the brief. To change

1 The material for this brief is taken from Henry Drummond's Tropical Africa, Chapter VI.

the amplified, completed work without evidence of patching is difficult. The student who writes without a brief frequently presents work in which he himself perceives flaws in the organization of material, because the labor of alteration requires more time than he can give it. Whereas, had he by means of a brief carefully projected his work, he would have discovered the difficulty in time to remedy it with little effort or time.

When he has the unamplified, bare framework before him, the student can better judge of the actual strength of his argument than he can when the idea is garnished with fair words and persuasively presented in the finished work. He sees more justly where the evidence by which he would establish the truth of a proposition is strong and where it is weak.

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BRIEF

MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL ISSUES

In argument we take for granted an audience. It is best to assume a hearer or reader who holds views opposed to those we advocate, as, if we work with the possibility of hostile criticism in mind, we shall be more careful to build up an irrefragable argument than if we work believing that whatever we say will find easy acceptance. Some initial agreements are necessary before there can be any intelligent disagreement. Opponents must agree on the interpre

tation of the question - they must agree as to what point or points must be proved in order to prove the truth or the falsity of a proposition. This it is the business of the introduction to discover.

Usually there are within the general issue under discussion many particular or special issues. It is necessary to find out whether or no there are among these particular issues any that do not need argument, that both sides will admit as true. Any such are immaterial to the discussion. It is the chief function of the introduction to eliminate from the discussion immaterial issues and to discover the material issues.

Just what the material issues in a controversy are will depend upon circumstances. Let us take a very simple example: The proposition is, Miss Blank should have a coat made in x style. This may be resolved into two particular or special issues, Should Miss Blank have a new coat, and, if so, should it be made in style? Before we begin to argue we should know whether or not there is any disagreement as to the first of these particular issues. If both sides agree that she should have a new coat, it would obviously be a waste of time to argue that she should. That particular issue should be eliminated from the discussion, and the argument should be directed to the establishment or the overthrow of the second issue, The coat should be made in x style.