Her eyes are sweet and subtle, wild and sleepy, by turns; oftentimes rising to the clouds, oftentimes challenging the heavens. She wears a diadem round her head. And I knew by childish memories that she could go abroad upon the winds, when she heard the sobbing of litanies or the thundering of organs, and when she beheld the mustering of summer clouds. This sister, the eldest, it is that carries keys more than papal at her girdle, which open every cottage and every palace. She, to my knowledge, sat all last summer by the bedside of the blind beggar, him that so often and so gladly I talked with, whose pious daughter, eight years old, with the sunny countenance, resisted the temptations of play and village mirth to travel all day long on dusty roads with her afflicted father. For this did God send her a great reward. In the spring-time of the year, and whilst her own Spring was budding, He recalled her to Himself. But her blind father mourns for ever over her; still he dreams at midnight that the little guiding hand is locked within his own; and still he wakens to a darkness that is now within a second and a deeper darkness.1

59. Variety. Intimately related to the question of euphony is that of variety. Variety, indeed, is almost indispensable to euphony. The too frequent recurrence of the same sounds or combinations of sounds is as disagreeable in discourse as in music. The writer, therefore, must avoid repetition of this kind. He must seek to give variety to his diction. He must be as careful about not using the same word or phrase over and over again as he is about not fashioning all his sentences and paragraphs on the same model.

1 From Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow.

As Professor Arlo Bates says,1 however, a word of qualification is necessary here, and that is, that the writer should never be afraid of repeating a word or phrase, provided the repetition is necessary to secure clearness. Such repetition is not disagreeable to the ear; nor is the skillful repeating of words to secure force disagreeable. It is unnecessary repetition only that is disagreeable; and that is the kind of repetition the writer should avoid.

In the following passage from a student's composition, for example, observe how the words "work" and "possess" are disagreeably repeated:

not rank with that of the great

Stevenson's work does masters in English prose. He has, to be sure, several admirable qualities of style such, for example, as freshness and lucidity which few other writers possess in the same degree. His work possesses the charm of finish, elegance, and power. But in spite of all this, his work lacks that indefinable something which a work must possess in order to have permanency.

To avoid the disagreeable repetition of these words, the passage might be recast in some such form as this:

Stevenson's work does not rank with that of the great English masters in prose. It has, to be sure, several admirable qualities. It has a style which, for freshness and lucidity, has seldom been equaled. It has the charm of finish, elegance, and power. But in spite of all this, it lacks that indefinable something the possession of which is necessary to permanency.

1 See Talks on Writing English, p. 108.

EXERCISES

1. Make a collection of the slang terms you have met with in your reading or conversation. Classify them in some way, - for example, as vulgar, picturesque, almost tolerable, etc.

2. Comment upon the accuracy or effectiveness of the dic tion in the following sentences:

a. His apparent guilt justified his friends in disowning him. b. He was mighty badly cut up about it.

c. I left him nicely fixed in his berth in the sleeper.

d. I did not sing yesterday as I wished.

e. His manners were not always of the most amiable description.

f. By this method we shall be able to eliminate the truth from the falsehood.

g. When this had been verbally agreed upon, he required me to put it in writing.

h. Everything about us indicated that the individual who occupied the room was possessed of exquisite taste.

i. His reputation as an orator is so well known that I shall not allude to it.

j. He most always hits the mark.

3. Criticise the figures of speech used in the following

sentences:

a. Mephistopheles unfolds to Faust the abysses of being, and extends before him all intellectual and earthly joys.

b. He cast a hasty glance about the room, as if looking for some weapon wherewith to slake the hatred that glittered in his eye.

c. Measures like this should not sit supinely by.

d. The breakers of the sea are bending beneath the burden of our exports.

e. In a moment the thunderbolt was upon them, deluging their country with invaders.

f. We must handle this thorny subject carefully, lest we tread on somebody's toes.

SUGGESTED SUBJECTS, FOR THEMES

1. What is a liberal education?

2. College training and business. 3. Advantages of co-education. 4. Evils of examination.

5. The future of the small college.

6. The Y. M. C. A. in college life.

7. The effect of fraternities on college life.

8. The ethics of hazing.

9. Reading poor books a waste of time.

10. Should the main aim of the college course be to give training or to impart information?

II. The disadvantages of being famous.

12. How bank notes are made.

13. A bank clearing house.

14. Do we read too much?

15. Books that have helped me.

16. The pleasures of winter.

17. The value of spraying in fruit growing.

18. Is Scott's picture of medieval life and ideals a faithful one?

19. The story of Ruth. (Use simple biblical language.) 20. Irving as a delineator of character.

Book.)

(See the Sketch

21. A study of the diction in Lamb's essays.