hout purpose, hated
alike by student and by instructor. Its sole use is to exemplify the
principles of rhetoric. But rhetoric belongs to the past as much as the
toga and the snuffbox; it is an extinct art, the art of cultivating style
according to the mannerisms of a vanished age.

Forget that you ever wrote a "theme," and ask yourself now: "Should I like
to write?" Of course you would--if you could. And you can. You have had,
and you will have, some experiences that will not be repeated exactly in
any other life--that no one else can express exactly as you would express
them. And the art of expressing what you have experienced, what you think,
what you feel, and what you believe, can be learned.

If you stop to consider the matter, you will realize that self-expression
is one of the laws of life; you do express yourself day after day, whether
you will or not. Hence, the more quickly you learn that successful
self-expression is the source of one of the greatest pleasures in life, the
more readily will you be able to turn your energy in the right direction,
and the more fun will you get out of the process. The kind of delight that
comes through self-expression of the body, through the play of the muscles
in running or hurdling, through the play of muscles and mind together in
football or baseball or tennis or golf, comes also through the exercise of
the mind alone in talk or in writing.

Remember always throughout this course, that you have something to
say--something peculiar to yourself that should be contributed to the sum
of the world's experience, something that cannot be contributed by anyone
but yourself. It may be much or it may be little: with that you are not
concerned at present; your business now is to find out how to say it; how
to clear away the obstacles that clog self-expression; how to give your
mind free swing; and how to get all the fun there is in the process.

The initial problems in learning to write are: How can you get at this
store of material hidden within you? and how can you know when you have
found it? Your experience, however interesting, is as yet very limited. How
can you tell which phases of it deserve expression, and which are mere
commonplace? The quickest way to answer this question is by reading.
Reading will tell you which phases of experience have been commonly treated
and which have been neglected. Moreover, as you read you will be surprised
to find that very often the features o