educing expression to
the barest terms. He could write, for example, "One advantage the chaplain
had," but it is impossible to conceive of his writing, "Now, amid all the
discomforts and disadvantages with which the unfortunate chaplain was
surrounded, there was one thing which served to offset them, and which, if
he chose to take the opportunity of enjoying it, might well be regarded as
a positive advantage." One will search his pages in vain for loose,
trailing clauses and involved constructions. His vocabulary was of the
same simple nature. He had a complete command of ordinary English and
contented himself with that. He rarely ventured beyond the most abridged
dictionary. An occasional technical term might be required, but he was shy
of the unfamiliar. He would coin no words and he would use no archaisms.
Foreign words, when fairly naturalized, he employed sparingly. "We shall
have no disputes about diction," he wrote to Napier, Jeffrey's successor;
"the English language is not so poor but that I may very well find in it
the means of contenting both you and myself."

_B._ Recite upon some topic taken from your other lessons for the day. Let
the class tell what method of development you have used.

_C._ Make a collection of well-written paragraphs illustrating each of the
methods of development.

+Theme XXIX.+--_Write two paragraphs using the same topic statement, but
developing each by a different method._

Suggested topic statements:--

1. The principal tools of government are buildings, guns, and money.

2. The civilized world was never so orderly as now.

3. Law suits take time, especially in cities; sometimes they take years.

4. There is a difference between law and justice.

5. We cry for a multitude of reasons of surprising variety.

6. In the growth of a child nothing is more surprising than his ceaseless
activity.

7. Education for the children of a nation is a benefit to the whole
nation.

(Have you said what you intended to say? What methods of development have
you used? Is the main thought of the two paragraphs the same even though
they begin with the same sentence?)

SUMMARY

1. Language is (1) a means of expressing ideas, and (2) a medium through
which ideas are acquired.

2. The acquisition of ideas by means of language requires:--
_a._ That we know the meanings of words, and so avoid forming
incomplete images (Section 27) and incomplete thoughts (Sectio