ss be
analyzed and drawn out, or does it act like a dose or a
charm which comes into general use empirically? 6. It is
natural and becoming to seek for some clear idea of the
meaning of so dark an oracle. 7. A laboring man knows he
should not go to the ale-house, and his wife knows she
should not filch when she goes out charing, but,
nevertheless, in these cases, the consciousness of a duty is
not all one with the performance of it. 8. Or rather, does
he mean, that, from the nature of the case, he who is imbued
with science and literature, unless adverse influences
interfere, cannot but be a better man? 9. Yet when has the
experiment been tried on so large a scale as to justify such
anticipations? 10. There are, then, large families of
instances, to say the least, in which men may become wiser,
without becoming better; what, then, is the meaning of this
great maxim in the mouth of its promulgators?"

Coherence, so necessary to the easy understanding of a paragraph, is
gained in three ways: by the order in which the sentences are
arranged; by the use of parallel constructions for parallel ideas; and
by the use of connectives.

Two Arrangements of Sentences in a Paragraph.

Material which has been selected with regard to the principle of unity
is all informed with one idea. Yet though one thought runs through it
all and unites it, the parts do not stand in an equally close relation
to the conclusion, nor is each part equally related to every other
part. Had they been, the last paragraph quoted would have been as well
in one order as another. Rather the sentences seem to fall into groups
of more closely related matters; or at times one sentence seems to
follow as the direct consequence of the preceding sentence. With
respect to the way in which the sentences contribute to the topic of
the paragraph, whether the topic be announced first or last, sentences
may be said to contribute directly to the proposition or indirectly.
If directly, the paragraph is a collection of sentences, each having a
common purpose, each having a similar relation to the topic, arranged,
as it were, side by side, and advancing as one body to the conclusion.
This may be termed an individual arrangement of sentences, since as
individuals they each contribute to the topic. The conclusion derives
its force from the combined mass of all. If indirectly, the paragraph
is