time. Always employ words enough to convey your meaning fully and perspicuously, and avoid the use of the same word in different significations. The following may be regarded as examples of a violation of this rule: "A right action being one conformed to the law, we may rightly say the actor had a right to perform it, i. e., the law given laid it upon him as a duty. And thus we come at once, as it were, abruptly to a right definition of duty, i. e., a thing due, which must be done -which the law requires me to do. Thus we reach the doctrine that rights and duties are reciprocal.” The above is confused and obscure, if not illogical. Better thus: “A right action being one conformed to the law, we may properly say that the actor has a right to perform it; and if the law-giver demands activity, he has imposed it as a duty upon the actor. Thus we come at once, and abruptly, to a correct definition of duty: it it is an action due, or that must be done; or, in other words, which the law requires an agent to do. Thus we reach the conclusion that rights and duties are reciprocal." The following passage is susceptible of great improvement: "And yet, with so urgent a need to be free from every intemperate stain and weakness, is it not almost proverbially true that, in the ranks of nominal students, there seems to be an especial liability to fall into some form or another of sickly and enslaving indulgence; it seems often as though the soul made just effort enough to rise and be strong to show its weakness. Hence their restlessness oftentimes in their seeming attempt of divorce from the flesh; hence dramdrinking and sottish eating of precious good things; hence smoking and chewing, and all sorts of vicious and consuming lusts, so often appear, as it were, in very mockery and derision of the professed attempt of studious men to train up their souls in power and freedom, in reason as one with the end and substance of their noble being." Strong as the above sentiment is, it seems to be expressed in a kind of stilted simplicity. Would it not be more elegant and even impressive thus? "And yet, with so urgent a necessity of being free from every stain and enfeebling influence of intemperance, is it not almost proverbially true that many who call themselves students are especially prone to fall into some enfeebling and enslaving indulgence? The souls of such men often seem to have striven to rise just enough to demonstrate their imbecility. Hence their restlessness often, in their abortive efforts to escape from their enslavement to the flesh. Hence dram-drinking, smoking and chewing of tobacco, and all sorts of vicious and destructive lusts so often appear to mock and deride those men who profess to be attempting by study to train up their souls in power and freedom in obedience to reason, as the very end and completion of their nobler being." It is difficult to expose this defect except by rewriting and adding to those productions in which it appears to be exhibited. An abundance of words, properly used, indicates abundant thought. \ Many speakers are doomed to inferior influence, many books pass rapidly into oblivion, from the want of a sufficiently extensive vocabulary.* At the same time, the frequent repetition of a word in the same discourse, or even paragraph, is allowable for emphasis, as is illustrated by the use of the word hypothesis in the following extract from Professor Thomas H. Huxley : "Do not allow yourself to be misled by the common notion that a *It has been stated that inquiries made of telegraph companies in Great Britain have ascertained that the number of words in ordinary use for business purposes, by telegraph, is only about three hundred. Many speakers and even writers employ not more than two or three thousand. Milton employed in his writings eight thousand. The English Bible has six thousand, while Shakspeare uses about fifteen thousand. hypothesis is untrustworthy because it is a hypothesis. It is often urged, in respect to some scientific conclusion, that, after all, it is only a hypothesis. But what more have we to guide us in ninetenths of the most important affairs of daily life than hypotheses, and often very ill-based ones? So that in science, where the evidence of a hypothesis is subjected to the most rigid examination, we may rightly pursue the same course. You may have hypotheses and hypotheses. A man may say, if he likes, that the moon is made of green cheese; that is a hypothesis. But another man, who has devoted a great deal of time and attention to the subject, and availed himself of the most powerful telescopes and the results of the observations of others, declares that in his opinion it is probably composed of materials very similar to those of which our earth is made up: and that also is a hypothesis." +(2.) Redundancy.-This is the exact opposite of Paucity; and consists in using more words than are necessary to express the thought. It is the most common fault of poor writings and inferior speeches. Vigorous and able writers not seldom fall into this error. It sometimes arises from a want of thought, leading the author to repeat over and over again the little modicum of sense or feeling which he is able to command. It then leads to tautology. Sometimes it arises from a parrot-like facility in remembering words from their sound, without much attention to their meaning. In such a case the productions soon weary men of good sense. Sometimes it arises from an ease in expressing the same general thought in two or more different ways, equally correct, and all impressive. In such a case redundancy is not always a blemish in speaking, nor in writings that are designed to be read but once, and rather carelessly, like daily newspapers; but in books designed to be preserved and studied, all redundan cies should be omitted. We append some examples. "I felt truly sorry for this young man. I will not assert that he showed any extraordinary amount of quickness or depth of intellect, but he has an adequate amount of talent, and so much real sensibility and feeling, that he could not fail to gain friends in any country in the world. I pity him; for, amid this complete dearth of congenial society, it will be wonderful indeed if he does not become a true Malagasey at last."* Better thus: "I felt truly sorry for this young man. I will not assert that he showed extraordinary quickness or depth of intellect; but he has talent enough, and so much sensibility that he could not fail to gain friends in any country; but amid this dearth of congenial society, it will be wonderful if he does not become a true Malagasey." More than thirty per cent. of the words are thus saved, and the force of the expression increased. "The Egyptians used to use myrrh, spices, and nitre for embalming the dead bodies of the deceased." It would seem incredible that a man of sense would employ so many useless words as in the above sentence. It should be, "The Egyptians were accustomed to use spices and nitre for embalming dead bodies." "By a multiplicity and variety of words, the thoughts and sentiments are not set off and accommodated; but, like David dressed out and equipped in Saul's armor, they are encumbered and oppressed." The sentence is greatly strengthened by omitting the italicized words. A lecturer on art who strove to use a correct style speaks of "interpretations of a passage by the learned Ida Pfeiffer's visit to Madagascar. Gesner, by Solanus, and Reitzius, which are laughably absurd, and ridiculous!" Would not the following passage from an elegant and instructive writer be improved by striking out the italicized words? "And is there nothing analogous to this in the social world? Is not the whole frame-work of our present social system founded on the eternally unchangeable law of the subordination and subserviency of one human organism to another? In order to be happy, man must be free to develop himself. But individual freedom must necessarily engender inequality so long as one human organism has more life-energy than another. We see the results of this principle (inequality of natural gift) in a common school, where all are placed in the same circumstances and on an equal footing. What a remarkable difference in the aptness of boys for particular branches of study! With what rapidity and apparent ease some get through the tasks allotted them! How slow and wearisome the progress made by others! Undoubtedly the diligent and attentive student is generally, at the end of the term, the most advanced in his class. But even in a well-regulated school, where industrious habits are carefully cultivated, where the strictest discipline is rigidly enforced, and where all are not only expected but actually made to study, there is the same variety in the natural capacities of the scholars, the same striking diversity in their intellectual progress. When reference is made to the standing of each at the commencement and then at the close of the session, some boys have got far ahead of the others in the same branch, notwithstanding those who have had the misfortune to fall back in their class have not unfrequently received the greatest share of the time and attention of their teacher. Thus, notwithstanding the oft-cited saying of Euclid, 'There is no royal road to learning,' it is undeniable that there is such a thing as an innate or natural intellectual and moral superiority of capacity possessed by one man over another."* 32. Discrimination on the proper Number of Words needed. It is possible that some persons may not consider the above extract improved by annulling the ital icized words, but it should be observed that concise productions, if perspicuous, please cultivated minds, What may be Learned from a Tree. By Harland Coultas, p. 71. |