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The army of Cabul
It was a trap; the

Then the march of the army, without a general, went on again. Soon it became the story of a general without an army; before very long there was neither general nor army. It is idle to lengthen a tale of mere horrors. The straggling remnant of an army entered the Jugdulluk Pass- a dark, steep, narrow, ascending path between crags. The miserable toilers found that the fanatical, implacable tribes had barricaded the pass. All was over. was finally extinguished in that barricaded pass. British were taken in it. A few mere fugitives escaped from the scene of actual slaughter, and were on the road to Jellalabad where Sale and his little army were holding their own. When they were within sixteen miles of Jellalabad the number was reduced to six. Of these six, five were killed by straggling marauders on the way. One man alone reached Jellalabad to tell the tale. Literally, one man, Dr. Brydon, came to Jellalabad out of a moving host which had numbered in all some sixteen thousand when it set out on its march. The curious eye will search through history or fiction in vain for any picture more thrilling with the suggestion of an awful catastrophe than that of this solitary survivor, faint and reeling on his jaded horse, as he appeared under the walls of Jellalabad, to bear the tidings of our Thermopylæ of pain and shame. - McCarthy: A History of our Own Times, Vol. I. p. 199.

Find paragraphs, in Appendix B, in which the topic-sentence is implied. Discover the theme in each of these paragraphs and state it in a brief sentence or phrase suitable for a title.

The student may also be given useful practice in locating the topic-sentences of the paragraphs quoted in the introductory chapter of this book. In each case he should phrase a brief and appropriate title for the paragraph.

It will also be a profitable exercise for the student to attempt giving appropriate single headings to the short editorial paragraphs to be found in any of the carefully edited metropolitan papers. Of the headed articles in the news-columns of the papers, the first generally corresponds to the title, and the second, which is usually longer, corresponds, roughly, to the working theme.

Another useful exercise in detecting the paragraph-subject, consists in the reading aloud, by the instructor, of several paragraphs, the student to give, at the conclusion of each, the paragraph-subject as he has determined it from the reading. As another exercise, mimeograph copies of paragraphs from which the topic-sentence has been omitted may be distributed, the student to fill the gap as skillfully as he can.

2. MEANS OF DEVELOPING.

We shall now study some of the means by which the idea or theme of a paragraph, as given formally in the topic

sentence or held in the mind of the writer, may be systematically developed. If we regard the topic-sentence as the germ-idea, it is evident that it contains, potentially, all that may be said on the subject in hand. The work of the other sentences is to bring out and develop clearly the thought contained in the topic-sentence, or so much of the thought as is necessary for the purpose which the writer has in view. The means by which they do this will of course vary in different cases; and the forms in which the growing idea clothes itself as the paragraph progresses will present many different modifications.

All of these various forms and means of developing the germ-idea may, however, be grouped, for practical purposes, under the following heads: repeating the theme in other words; defining or limiting the theme; presenting its contrary; explaining or amplifying its meaning by examples, illustrations, or quotations; particularizing by means of specific instances or details; presenting proofs; and applying or enforcing the theme. Any sentence which performs one of these functions may claim a place in the paragraph: any sentence (not introductory, transitional, or summarizing) which does none of these things should be excluded.

It need hardly be said that these means of developing the theme are employed in various combinations. The same paragraph may use one or several of them. What one shall be employed by the writer, in any case, will be decided by the nature of the thought discussed, by his purpose, and by the demands of the subject and occasion. Some of these combinations will be designated in the quotations that follow.

(a) REPETITION OF THE THEME IN OTHER WORDS.

When the subject under discussion is in any way obscure, or requires special emphasis, it may be repeated in other

words immediately after the topic-sentence. Sometimes the repetition is delayed until a later stage of the paragraph. Illustrations of repetition may be seen in the paragraph quoted from Ruskin (see Unity), and in those quoted from the London Spectator and Horace Mann (see Paragraph Subject). It also occurs in the following paragraphs:

[Topic-sentence] The peculiarity of ill-temper is that it is the vice of the virtuous. [Repeated] It is often the one blot on an otherwise noble character. [Particularized] You know men who are all but perfect, and women who would be entirely perfect, but for an easily ruffled, quick-tempered or touchy' disposition. - Drummond: The Greatest Thing in the World, p. 29.

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[Topic-sentence] There are few delights in any life so high and rare as the subtle and strong delight of sovereign art and poetry; there are none more pure and more sublime. [Repeated and particularized] To have read the greatest work of any great poet, to have beheld or heard the greatest works of any great painter or musician, is a possession added to the best things of life. - Swinburne: Essays and Studies (Victor Hugo: L'Année Terrible).

In Appendix A 3 will be found a list of topic-sentences which require repetition in other words. The student should write all of these exercises. Also find in Appendix B paragraphs in which the topic-sentence is treated in this way.

(b) DEFINITIVE STATEMENTS.

The topic-sentence is not always sufficient to give the exact content of the idea to be expounded. It may mean more or less than the writer intends. In this case it becomes necessary for the writer to define, by restriction or enlargement, the terms of the topic-sentence. Synonymous expressions are of the greatest value for this purpose. Their felicitous use may be noticed in the quotations given below. The following will illustrate the use of definitive state

ments:

[Topic] Practically, then, at present,' advancement in life' means, becoming conspicuous in life; obtaining a position which shall be

acknowledged by others to be respectable or honorable. [Defined] We do not understand by this advancement, in general, the mere making of money, but the being known to have made it; not the accomplishment of any great aim, but the being seen to have accomplished it. In a word, we mean the gratification of our thirst for applause. Ruskin Sesame and Lilies, p. 5.

[Topic] Nature

is a collective term for all facts actual and possible; or (to speak more accurately) a name for the mode in which all things take place. [Defined] For the word suggests not so much the multitudinous detail of phenomena, as the conception which might be formed of their manner of existence as a mental whole by a mind possessing a complete knowledge of them. - John Stuart Mill.

In Appendix A 4 will be found a list of topic-sentences which require treatment by definition, restriction, or enlargement. The student should write all of these exercises. Also find paragraphs in Appendix B in which the topic-sentence is treated in this way.

(c) PRESENTING THE CONTRARY.

Often the idea can be made clearer by presenting a contrary, negative, or contrasting idea in connection with it. This is illustrated by the paragraph from Ruskin, just quoted. It appears also in the following:

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[Topic and Details] We all know how beautiful and noble modesty is; how we all admire it; how it raises a man in our eyes to see him afraid of boasting; never showing off; never pushing himself forward; [Contrary] Whenever, on the other hand, we see in wise and good men any vanity, boasting, pompousness of any kind, we call it a weakness in them, and are sorry to see them lowering themselves by the least want of divine modesty. - Kingsley: Country Sermons, III.

Frequently the contrasted thought takes the form of a concession, and is stated first:

Despotism may find here and there its logicians to defend it. But despotism can find no poet to chant its praises. From first to last, and with increase of power from age to age, the voice of literature in all its forms has been the voice of popular liberty.-J. O. Murray.

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Paragraph-Writing.

Such contrasting ideas naturally exp antitheses and in balanced sentences. notony and weariness, if employed often used sparingly, and their form of present In the following we have the topic-sen by contrast and by example:—

Mannerism is pardonable and is sometimes the manner, though vicious, is natural. Few would be willing to part with the mannerism of But a mannerism which does not sit easy on the been adopted on principle, and which can be su stant effort, is always offensive. And such i Johnson. — Macaulay: Life of Johnson.

In Appendix A 5 the student will find a list of topic-sente trast. Also find paragraphs in Appendix B in which the topi contrast.

(d) EXPLAINING OR ILLUSTR

Some thoughts require explanation and tion. Similar or analogous cases and as experiences (as distinguished from spe details) are needed to deepen the impres topic-sentence. An explanation or illust ally of considerable length, detains the reader upon the thought presented for a enable him to contemplate it at greater parables of the New Testament are cond of abstract truths, and abound in explan lowing will serve as a specimen of illu planation:

[Topic] Have you never seen men and women

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