n Lord Roberts was
sent to South Africa to snatch victory out of defeat, he was
sixty-eight years of age.

On the French side, General Joffre is sixty-two; General Pau is
sixty-six; General Castelnau, the third in command, is well
advanced in the sixties; and General Gallieni, who is in command
of the defenses of Paris, is seventy.

The German armies are also led by a group of elderly men. Count
von Huelsenberg has reached the mature age of seventy-eight;
Field Marshal von der Goltz is seventy-one; General von Kluck
has reached his sixty-eighth year; General von Emmich was
sixty-six; and General von Hindenberg is sixty-seven.

These figures suggest that, while fifty may be the deadline
among Democratic statesmen, it appears to be a kind of life-line
among great leaders abroad.--Adapted from _The Outlook_,
November 11, 1914.[13]

[13] Reprinted by permission of _The Outlook_.

IV. Analysis

Observe the framework. Paragraph 1 states the point to be proved.
Paragraphs 2-5 are composed of examples, arranged thus:

1. The War of 1871.
2. The War of 1905.
3. The Present War.
(a) France.
(b) England.
(c) Germany.

The order, in other words, is at once the order of chronology and that
of climax, which combine to make the facts easy to remember. Paragraph 6
summarizes the argument and clinches it by a sharp antithesis.

V. Exercises

1. Using a similar framework, write an editorial disproving by
examples the point made by the writer of the model.

2. Write an editorial proving by examples any proposition which you
believe to be true and in which you are deeply interested.

3. Prove or disprove by example any one of the following
propositions:

(a) Left-hand batters are better than right-hand batters.

(b) Germans are better ball-players than Irishmen.

(c) Frenchmen cannot play ball.

(d) Men write better than women.

(e) Asphalt pavements are more durable than brick pavements.

(f) Germany has contributed more to the world's culture than
England.

(g) College graduates are more successful as statesmen than are
self-made men.

(h) Very tall men have ever very empty heads.

(i) Athletes usually succeed well in after life.

(j) Dr. Samuel Johnson was a great wit. (For Johnson, substitute,
if you wish, Geoffrey Chaucer, Wil