f
the power of tact.

14. Name an argument which you have read within a few months which made
a special impression on you by its clearness.

15. Find an argument in the daily papers, on local or academic affairs,
which makes effective appeal to the practical interests of its audience.
Analyze this appeal.

16. Name three subjects of local and immediate interest on which you
could write an argument in which you would appeal chiefly to the
practical interests of your readers.

17. Name two current political questions which turn on the practical
interests of the country at large.

18. Name two public questions now under discussion into which moral
issues enter. Do both sides on these questions accept the same view of
the bearing of the moral issues?

19. Find an argument, not in this book, in which the eloquence of the
style is a distinct part of the persuasive power.

20. What do you think of the persuasive power of Burke's speech "On
Conciliation with America"? of its convincing power?

21. Find an argument, not in this book, in which the concreteness of the
language adds to the persuasive power.

22. Find two examples, not in this book, of apt and effective figures of
speech in an argument.

23. Find an example of an apt anecdote or fable used in an argument.

24. In Lincoln's address at Cooper Institute, what do you think of his
attitude towards the South as respects fairness?

25. In the argument on which you are at work, what chance would there be
of inducing agreement between the two sides?

CHAPTER V

DEBATING

60. The Nature of Debate. The essential difference between debate
and written argument lies not so much in the natural difference between
all spoken and written discourse as in the fact that in a debate of any
kind there is the chance for an immediate answer to an opponent.
Quickness of wit to see the weak points on the other side, readiness in
attacking them, and resource in defending one's own points make the
debater, as distinguished from the man who, if he be given plenty of
time, can make a formidable and weighty argument in writing. The best
debating is heard in deliberative bodies which are not too large, and
where the rules are not too elaborate. Perhaps the best in the world is
in the British House of Commons, for there the room is not so large that
hearing is difficult, and skill in thrust and parry has been valued and
practiced for generations.

The military figure fo