we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement because it is irreparable, and to death because it is his destiny." It is of course patent that the detailed organization of the above passage can hardly be paralleled in extemporaneous speech; but the striking effect of its finished elaboration suggests that in using any method of definition the speaker may profit greatly by being sure that the subject is clearly defined in his own mind. Furthermore, it is desirable that as far as possible he should determine while planning his address the methods he will use in defining the more important ideas. With a knowledge of the various means of exposition previously discussed, he may trust to impromptu explanation of matters of minor importance. D. SUMMARY At the opening of this chapter it was pointed out that no one detailed plan of procedure could be suggested for handling the wide variety of topics used by speakers. Certain general principles of construction, however, which apply under any circumstances, have been presented. It was emphasized at the outset that every topic should be elaborated with clearly defined substance, directed toward making a distinct and lasting impression on the audience. The first step advocated for this purpose was the selection of a main theme, or central idea. The next requisite proposed was the providing of leading points which definitely support the main theme. The third factor to be discussed was the methods of elaborating these leading points. They may be summed up as follows: (1) by citing specific examples; (2) by applying the principle of antecedent probability; (3) by using analogy; (4) by proceeding from effect to cause; (5) or from cause to effect; (6) by developing a point from the general to the specific; i. e., by deduction; (7) by employing narration or description; (8) by definition in the form of repetition, comparison or contrast, negation, concrete example, or detailed analysis. These eight methods, with the various modifications and combinations which will occur to the speaker in working up a given subject, provide adequate means for elaborating in substantial manner a wide diversity of topics. We may now turn to methods of arrangement which will further help the speaker to realize the ends sought in the body of the discussion. CHAPTER V ARRANGING THE MATERIAL Concerning arrangement, as was stated of subject-matter, it must be understood that no one method will fit all speeches. Nor is it likely that any one address will follow a single plan throughout the entire development. The speaker can ordinarily lay out the main headings, or "trunk lines," of a given discourse according to the one method which seems best calculated to carry his message as a whole. But in the arrangement of subordinate parts, he must feel free to employ such various methods as fit those parts. Some of these methods, which may be termed logical, are inherent in the particular kind of subject-matter discussed; others are based upon psychological relationships; still other methods depend neither upon logic nor psychology, strictly speaking, but are arbitrarily designed for special effects. A. LOGICAL METHODS OF ARRANGEMENT Arrangement based on cause and effect is used, as the name implies, when discussing causal rela tionships. The essential thing to observe in employing this method is the avoidance of the confusion which is likely to result from moving backward and forward between cause and effect. It is usually possible to obviate this shortcoming by completing the discussion of the cause or the effect, as the case may be, before proceeding to the other factor. Notice how this is exemplified in the following passage from Carlyle's "Essay on Burns." "Picturesque tourists, all manner of fashionable danglers after literature, and, far worse, all manner of convivial Maecenases, hovered round him [Burns] in his retreat; and his good as well as his weak qualities secured them influence over him. He was flattered by their notice; and his warm social nature made it impossible for him to shake them off, and hold on his way apart from them. These men, as we believe, were proximately the means of his ruin. Not that they meant him any ill; they only meant themselves a little good; if he suffered harm, let him look to it! But they wasted his precious time and his precious talent; they disturbed his composure, broke down his returning habits of temperance and assiduous contented exertion. Their pampering was baneful to him; their cruelty, which soon followed, was equally baneful. The old grudge against Fortune's inequality awoke with new bitterness in their neighborhood; and Burns had no retreat but to 'the Rock of Independence,' which is but an air-castle after all, that looks well at a distance, but will screen no one from real wind and wet. Flushed with irregular excitement, exasperated alternately by contempt of others, and contempt of himself, Burns was no longer regaining his peace of mind, but fast losing it forever. There was a hollowness at the heart of his life, for his conscience did not now approve what he was doing." II. Chronological Order The chronological or time order is applicable whenever the subject-matter is concerned with events in sequence. It may be well to note that constant and explicit references to the details of chronology are very apt to produce a dry, mechanical effect. For instance, a month by month or year by year development if at all prolonged, and particularly if the time and not the essence of the events is made prominent, would fatigue the most long-suffering audience. Another thing to beware of is the confusion which results from jumping backward and forward in chronology. The speaker may profitably take advantage of time order in arrangement but he should avoid the pitfalls of the method by moving constantly forward, and by bringing out the significance |