gress were permitted, by a two-thirds vote in each house, to pass a law over the veto of the President. The further provision is made, in the procurement of the same ends, that the President, the members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives, shall not be elected at the same time. Taken as a whole, it was the most ingenious device for the prevention of legislation that the world has ever known; and after the adoption of the Constitution, both parties, from their respective standpoints, extolled these features of the Constitution. perhaps beyond their true value, losing sight of the great loss which ensues from unwise legislation, from the supreme difficulty to secure its repeal or modification -TIEDEMAN: The Unwritten Constitution of the United States. ANALYSIS. If the selection be analyzed, the following main divisions are found. I. The introduction. This comprehends the first paragraph. II. The exposition proper,which includes the second and third paragraphs and the first sentence of the fourth. III. The conclusion, which comprises the last sentence of the fourth paragraph. Analyzing each of these divisions, we find the same methodical arrangement and the same clear statement of principles and facts. The first sentence of the introduction (a) asserts the universality of these two opposing ideas in politics, and also (b) defines their character. What advantage is (a) to the argument? What advantage is (b) to it? The second sentence defines these two classes more particularly, and also suggests what general method of procedure the two forces follow. The third sentence enters more fully into particulars, and hence approaches more nearly to the real point of the subject under discussion. The last sentence of the paragraph gives a classification of the two forces, or assigns a name by which each may be known for convenience of reference as well as definition. In the body of the argument he shows who composed the advocates of the two opposing ideas in our country at the time of adopting the constitution. Again, he particularizes by stating just what each party feared and what each party aimed to do in a general way. Then coming to the very particular arguments, he shows that both parties labored (a) to make it difficult to mend the constitution, (b) to still further impede legislation by requiring the concurrence of three different bodies, (c) and to provide that the members of these three bodies should be elected at different times. The conclusion extols the ingenuity of the device, but rather condemns the policy of it. STUDIES. I. Make a brace outline of the selection. 2. Has he stated the points clearly? 3. Has he arranged the thoughts methodically or logically in every part of the selection? 4. Has he used any unnecessary sentences or words? 5. Does he appeal to reason or to feeling? 6. Why not to both? 7. Bring to class other selections which you have found, or may find, to be clear and logical argumentative discourse. 8. Notice how much depends upon (a) selecting the arguments that have strong bearing and excluding all others; (b) stating these in clear, straightforward language without any unnecessary words. CHAPTER XXIII. A STUDY OF JOHN G. WHITTIER. Born 1807; died 1892. SIGNIFICANT FACTS ABOUT HIM. 1. By birth and choice a Quaker. 3. First poet he read and loved was Burns. 4. First volume of poems published in 1831. 5. Mobbed for his anti-slavery opinions in Concord, N. H., 1835. 6. Massachusetts' state representative, 1835-36. 7. Secretary of American Anti-slavery Society, 1836. 8. Connected with editorial interest in anti-slavery newspapers at various times. 9. Retired from all public life in 1840. 10. Never travelled out of his own country. II. Was never married. 12. Was devoted in his care of his mother and invalid sister. I. FROM "VOICES OF FREEDOM."* Our fellow countrymen in chains! Where rolled the storm of Freedom's war! A groan from Eutaw's haunted wood A wail where Camden's martyrs fell • Extracts from Whittier used by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. By every shrine of patriot blood, By storied hill and hallowed grot, And bartered as the brute for gold! 1. Study the emphasis of feeling. 2. What emotional phrases? 3. Select and explain the types. 4. Study the "effects." 5. State all the means he uses to stir the feelings. 6. Why does he use the exclamation? 7. What characteristics does he display as a man? 8. What characteristics as a poet? " II. FROM THE DEDICATION" TO SONGS OF LABOR.". So haply these, my simple lays Of homely toil may serve to show The orchard bloom and tasselled maize That skirt and gladden duty's ways, The unsung beauty hid life's common things below. Haply from them the toiler, bent Above his forge or plough, may gain A manlier spirit of content, And feel that life is wisest spent Where the strong working hand makes strong The doom which to the guilty pair And rugged toil, no more shall bear The burden of old crime, or mark of primal shame. A blessing now,-a curse no more; Since He, whose name we breathe with awe, The coarse mechanic vesture wore, A poor man toiling with the poor, In labor as in prayer, fulfilling the same law. STUDIES. 1. What type is found in his "orchard bloom and tasselled maize "? 2. What characteristics here as poet? 3. What as a man? III. THE PROBLEM. I. Not without envy Wealth at times must look Than theirs was never worthier knighthood made. Their honest manhood unseduced, and wage II. And well for Gain if it ungrudging yields Labor its just demand; and well for Ease |