Exercise 75.—Prepare outlines of passages indicated by the teacher.
35. Essentials in a Whole Composition.—Your study of the preceding models and your practice in making outlines must have shown you some of the things a long composition should have. Let us now gather up these points.
You have learned that both the sentence and the paragraph must have unity. The longer composition must also have unity. As in the paragraph everything must relate to one topic, so in the long composition everything must relate to one larger topic. Suppose that your subject is "Benjamin Franklin the Statesman"; you would then omit facts about Franklin's boyhood, also those about his discoveries in science, since, important and interesting as these facts are, they do not bear directly on the topic.
In a good composition, one paragraph leads up to or suggests another. Look again at the passage on page 88. In ¶ 1 the house itself is described. In ¶ 2 we are taken inside by the housekeeper, who exhibits the relics. ¶ 3 gives a more detailed account of one relic in particular (Shakspere's chair). Doubts of its authenticity naturally lead to the author's little talk on relics in general, which you find in ¶ 4. Very often, although not always, you will find paragraphs joined by connecting words; but there should always be connection in thought.
In the chapter on Condensation you are directed to decide carefully as to the relative importance of the different points treated, and to treat the most important points at the greatest length.
Remember, then, that everything in your composition should treat of one theme; that the paragraphs should follow each other in an orderly way, each one carrying on the thought suggested by the preceding paragraph; and that the most important points should be treated at the greatest length.
36. How to Plan an Essay.—Let us suppose that you take as your subject for a composition The Cotton Gin. Read all you can find on the subject, jotting down points of interest, such as the following:—
Boyhood of Whitney. His visit to the South. He becomes interested in problem of cleaning seeds from cotton wool. The method of removing seeds before the invention. Condition of cotton industry in the South. Description of cotton gin. Eli Whitney's attempts to make a machine. His success. Result of invention as to cotton raising. Whitney's character. Relation between slavery and the cotton gin. Effect of invention as to manufacturing at North. Amount of cotton exported after invention. Price of cotton before invention; after invention.
From this mass of material you must choose the important facts. Keep only the facts that bear upon your topic. Reject everything else. The result would be somewhat as follows:—