sible if it contended with wanton changes in the sentence type. This method of parallel structure, as it is sometimes called, is particularly appropriate when a series of contrasts is to develop the paragraph. Often however it is a nice matter to decide whether the paragraph should preserve this unity of form throughout, or whether some variety in sentence form is needed to prevent tediousness. A master of style like Hawthorne or Stevenson will manage to give a series of sentences similarity enough to mark the paragraph as a unit in form, and yet manage to satisfy the most critical ear in its desire for varied rhythm. Here is a point at which the muse of text-books, if there is such a creature, may properly cower her wing. We can do no more than point out pleasing and unpleasing parallelism, and urge the student to test his own paragraphs to the best of his own taste.

Unity of form is pleasing in the following paragraph:

We are

Hence a world of incidental inconsistencies. intolerant of dancing, but indulgent toward kissing games. We are certain that if we drink a glass of beer we shall be cast into a lake of fire, but we consume hard cider with infinite enjoyment, and confidently look for a crown of glory that fadeth not away. By no possible

device of rhetoric could you persuade our best deacon to smoke, though he raises tobacco by the acre for the use of his countrymen. None of us will steal your purse, yet few of us can baffle the serpentine temptation to cheat you. We think it sinful to tell malicious lies, though meanwhile we believe all the malicious lies that come to our ears, and we invariably condemn our neighbor unheard. What is this but a survival of stagnant, unthinking Puritanism? We are as consistent as our consecrated Pilgrim ancestors, who never went to plays. Bless you, no! Instead, they went to hangings.-R. L. HARTE: A New England Hill Town.

Unity of form is carried to dull excess in the following paragraph:

Henry unexpectedly appeared at the top of the hillock. Then Horace appeared at the top of the hillock. Then the two boys from New York appeared at the top of the hillock. Finally the rest of the party showed themselves at the top of the hillock.

It is impossible to make out from the preceding paragraph whether the repeated appearances "at the top of the hillock" were comic or not; if comic they were, it is still not necessary to go to an absurd length of parallelism in order to show the humor of the situation. The para

graph might read as follows:

Henry unexpectedly appeared at the top of the hillock. Then Horace appeared at the top of the hillock. Evidently the top of that hillock was to be the way home for the deluded party, for presently in the same place two

more figures appeared against the sky, and we recognized the boys from New York. Finally, at precisely the same spot, the rest of the party showed themselves in a dejected group.

EXERCISE 39. (Written.)

Examine the paragraphs of your themes, and consider whether you have carried uniformity of structure far enough in each.

CHAPTER III

THE SENTENCE AS A PART AND AS A WHOLE

§ 1. Unity of Thought in the Sentence. The making of really good sentences, sentences that have varied excellence of form and yet weave into each other like the threads of a firm, rich texture, is perhaps the hardest task of the stylist. Though we can expect to do little more than approach the subject at the correct angle, we can at least learn to think of the sentence in its twofold character - as a part of the web of discourse and as a whole. The principles that govern thought-unity in a sentence are the same as those which govern thought-unity in a paragraph, though applied on a smaller scale. These principles are however much modified by the principle of emphasis, as we shall see. Thought-unity is a matter of the sentence as a whole; emphasis is partly a matter of the sentence as related to the paragraph.

Sentence-unity of time is easily understood, but like paragraph-unity of time is not often

found in a pure form. There is little danger of violating it by the introduction of an utterly unrelated time. People do not say, "We breakfasted this morning from seven to eight, and we were in Paris from 1900 to 1902." But it is easy to introduce an irrelevant place into a time sentence, as if one should say, "We breakfasted from seven to eight, in the red room beside which the poplar tree grows, which overlooks the upland meadow." And it is easy enough to saddle upon a time sentence an irrelevant generalization, as if one should say, "We breakfasted from seven to eight in the red room; red is said to be the favorite color of women, while blue is the favorite color of men."

A time sentence may include several independent events, if the mere fact of their having occurred within the one period is cause enough, in the given paragraph, for associating them ; thus: "From eight to nine the following things happened: I got up; I bathed; I ate two boiled eggs and two slices of toast, and drank one cup of coffee; I said good-by to the family; I got to the corner and saw a car go by; I waited for another, got on, and paid my fare; the cable broke; I had walked a block in the