American Review, Atlantic Monthly, Review of Reviews, or from standard volumes in the school library. etc., - 37. Criticism. Criticising a book is even a greater pleasure and better practice-than summarizing it, for it involves not only a sound knowledge of the contents of the book, but sound judgment in weighing the contents. The critic's first duty, especially in treating a new book, with which the public he addresses is wholly unfamiliar, is to give the reader a fairly definite idea of the contents. His second duty is to record his opinion as to the skill and faithfulness with which the author has performed his task. A third duty, in many cases, is to record his opinion as to whether in his judgment the task was worth attempting. The illustrations given below, though obviously the work of skilled hands, are not beyond the reasonable ambition of the young writer. It should be noticed that in (1) the critic scarcely attempts to pass judgment on the book, except by saying that it belongs to the class of books that are always worth reading; and that in (2) the critic not only thinks that the author has not performed his work well in this particular case, but that he would have done better to attempt work of a wholly different style. (1) Recollections of a Lifetime. By General Roeliff Brinkerhoff. Illustrated. The Robert Clarke Co., Cincinnati. 5x8 in. 448 pages. $2. "The autobiography of a man of parts and power is always worth reading, especially so when he has lived. through eventful periods and has been closely connected with men of large influence on the course of events. Such a man is General Brinkerhoff, in early life a tutor at General Jackson's family residence in Tennessee, a leading organizer of the Republican party in 1856 and of the Liberal Republican movement in 1872, an officer in the Civil War, and since 1878 a leader in the department of philanthropy which is concerned with charitable and correctional institutions. Among his personal experiences one therefore finds many historical incidents before unpublished, and personal notices of men whose place and fame confer interest on all matters of record concerning them. Among these such men as Hayes and Garfield, Chase and Blaine, close friends of General Brinkerhoff, have a prominent place in his memoranda. Of more importance is the record of general progress in dealing with the dependent, defective, and criminal classes, which appears in his notes of travel in that interest through many countries. A deeply religious spirit, both broad and earnest, characterizes the writer, and has left its impress on the book."- The Outlook, July 14, 1900. (2) The Isle of the Winds. By S. R. Crockett. Doubleday & McClure Co., New York. 5 x 7 in. 446 pages. $1.50. "Mr. Crockett has now been before the public as a novelist for six or seven years; in this time he has written (including the present story and another volume announced to appear at once) no less than twenty books, most of which are full-fledged novels, or about three a year. We may divide this enormous literary output into two general classes: the one containing charmingly written and delightfully humorous studies of Scottish character and feeling, of which The Stickit Minister's Love Story, printed lately in The Outlook, is a good example, and to which The Lilac Sun bonnet and Kit Kennedy, in part at least, also belong; the other including semi-historical stories of adventure and romance, of which The Raiders is the best example. To our taste, Mr. Crockett's work is vastly superior in the first class of novels described as compared with the second. Lively as are his books of adventure, they show marks of haste and carelessness, and often descend to mere bloodand-thunder sensationalism. That horrors can be found in history on which to base the fictitious horrors does not in the least affect the criticism. The Isle of the Winds is too crammed with crime to be entertaining. In short, the book is one which no one would think of rereading. Its subject is a novel one for Mr. Crockett, but not particularly novel otherwise; the hero is kidnapped at Aberdeen after a childhood in which he sees his father murder his grandfather and witnesses other cheerful incidents of the kind, and is taken to America, where he escapes from pirates, falls under the power of the Inquisition, and, after many harrowing experiences, returns to Scotland and overthrows the villanous machinations of his enemies." 1. Write several criticisms of books, some of one paragraph, some longer. The subjects may be chosen from current literature or from books connected with the school work. 2. If time allows, write one or two short criticisms of plays, pictures, or buildings (from the point of view of architecture). CHAPTER VI ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION 38. ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION.-39. THE STATEMENT OF THE PROPOSITION.-40. METHOD OF PROOF. 41. DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING ABSOLUTE PROOF. - EXERCISE 20.42. THE BRIEF. - EXERCISE 21.-43. THE EXPANSION OF THE BRIEF. — 44. THE CITING OF AUTHORITIES. —45. THE SYLLOGISM AND ITS PARTS.— EXERCISE 22. — -46. PERSUASION. - EXERCISE 23.-47. EXPOSITION, ARGUMENT, AND PERSUASION IN LITERATURE. 38. Argument and Persuasion. Finally, we must take up the two forms of prose composition in which the writer's aim is not to amuse the reader or give him information, but to induce him to espouse a certain belief, or to perform certain acts. Writing that attempts to convince the reader by logical proof, we call argument; writing that attempts to induce the reader to do something, we call persuasion. It is argument when we try to prove that it is a citizen's duty to vote a certain ticket; it is persuasion when we try to induce him to vote that ticket. With reasonable men, argument is by far the greater part of persuasion; but even the most reasonable people sometimes need to be appealed to in other ways than by argument before they actually do what they know is logically right or just. There can 39. The Statement of the Proposition. be no good argument when the proposition in question is not clearly defined. You cannot convince the reader when he does not understand precisely what it is which you wish him to believe. It is necessary, then, in the first place, to use care in framing your proposition. Do not state that you are proving that foreign languages should be taught in the high school, when you mean that German and French should be compulsory studies in the high school; or that all states should establish free professional schools, when you refer only to professional schools in law and medicine, but not in theology or other professions. In the second place, explain in your introduction, if necessary, any special meaning you are giving to the terms you employ in your proposition. If your proposition is that Aaron Burr was guilty of treason, give the reader fair warning that you mean morally guilty, not legally guilty. If your proposition is that Latin should be a compulsory study in the high school, be sure to state such necessary limitations as that, for example, you mean only so many years of Latin, and that you do not mean to include manual training high schools. Otherwise, you may find too late that the reader thought you had a different end in view. 40. Method of Proof. The method of proof in argument is precisely similar to that ordinarily employed in geometry. It is desired to prove that such an angle, let us say, is equal to another angle. After looking at the problem, we say that this can be shown, |