THE EXPOSITION OF MECHANICS
"'Tis not in mortals to command success.
But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it."
JOSEPH ADDISON.
I. Assignments
1. Explain the plan of your own house.
2. Explain the plan of some new house that you pass on your way to
school.
3. Explain the structure of a new locomotive, railway car, street
car, automobile, ship, or aeroplane.
4. Explain the plan of your schoolhouse.
5. The papers contain many descriptions of new houses. These are
usually written with a fine disregard of the laws of
composition. Find and rewrite one of them. Do the same with a
description of a ship such as is common in periodicals.
II. Model I
The new suburban home of John Doe is located in a ten-acre tract
on the northern side of the Seven-Mile Road, midway between
Woodward Avenue and the Gratiot E. Turnpike. The material is
reinforced concrete; the style, Colonial; the roof of green
shingles; the size, 48 feet by 36 feet.
From a front entrance porch a central hall 7 feet wide extends
29 feet to the rear of the house, terminating in a flight of
stairs broken in the middle by a landing. Above this landing a
circular window gives plenty of light and at the same time forms
a decorative feature.
On the right, as one enters the hall, is a room 9 feet by
14 feet, which may be used as a den or a reception room. Back of
this is a living-room, 14 feet by 20 feet, with a fireplace at
the rear end, and a French door that leads to a side piazza.
This piazza, which is 20 feet by 7 feet, is covered and is
equipped with sliding windows.
On the other side of the hall, in front, is the dining-room,
16 feet by 14 feet. This room has a fireplace, which faces the
street, and a French door, which leads to a side porch 8 feet by
10. The latter is enclosed with glass and is used as a breakfast
porch. Directly behind this porch is a small sewing-room, and,
partly behind the sewing-room and partly behind the dining-room,
is the kitchen, which is 12 feet square. In the northwest corner
of the house, directly north of the sewing-room and west of the
kitchen, are a small back porch and an entry large enough for a
refrigerator. East of the kitchen, between it and the main hall,
are a passage and service stairways leading to the cellar and
the upper floors. The kitchen is thus separated from the rest of
the house, either way, by two doors, which prevents the odors of
the cooking from escaping.
The walls of the first floor are finished in oiled and waxed
gumwood. The floors are oak, except in the kitchen, where hard
pine is used.
On the second floor the rear of the space above the main hall is
occupied by a passage, the front by a bathroom. On the eastern
side of this passage, above the den, is a bedroom 16 feet by
14 feet, and back of this, above the living-room, a bedroom
14 feet by 11 feet. The latter has a fireplace in the north
wall. On the western side of the passage, in front, above the
dining-room, is the owner's chamber, 16 feet by 14 feet. From
its southeast corner a door leads to the bathroom already
mentioned; on its southwest side is a porch, and in its northern
wall are two closets and a fireplace. In its rear a passage
leads to a fourth chamber, 14 feet by 10 feet, which has an
alcove, 9 feet by 8 feet. This alcove is directly above the
sewing-room and the chamber is in the northwest corner of the
house. Between it and the service stairway is a second bathroom.
On the third floor are three large chambers, an unfinished room
for storage, and a servants' bath.
The cellar contains a laundry, a vegetable closet, coal-bins,
and a hot-water heating-plant.
III. Analytical Discussion
1. Note the framework:
(a) "Four W's"--Par. 1.
(b) First Floor--
Par. 2. Main Hall.
Par. 3. Right Side.
Par. 4. Left Side.
Par. 5. Floors and Walls.
(c) Second Floor--Par. 6.
(d) Third Floor. Par. 7.
(e) Cellar--Par. 8.
2. _Words._ Define and explain the etymology of "suburban,"
"located," "reinforced," "concrete," "Colonial," "reception,"
"piazza," "porch," "refrigerator," "separated," "except,"
"servant," "closet," "effect."
3. _Sentences._ (a) Tell whether they are simple, complex, or
compound. (b) Do any of them lack unity?
4. _Paragraphs._ (a) Can you find any violations of paragraph
unity? (b) Observe that the following particulars are
mentioned in Par. 1: location, material, shape, color, size. Is
the same plan used in describing each room? In order to
determine this, make a list of the items that are mentioned in
explaining the construction of each.
5. _Transition._ Point out all of the transition words in the
model.
6. _Figures of Speech._ Find a metaphor and an antithesis in the
model.
IV. Model II
The _Arizona_ is the latest and greatest addition to the battle
fleet of the United States.
Her displacement is 31,400 tons, her length over all 600 feet,
her maximum breadth 97 feet, and her draft under normal
conditions 28 feet, 10 inches. Parsons's turbines of 29,000
horse-power give her a speed of 21 knots. Her fuel supply is
2322 tons of oil. She carries a crew of 1000 men. Her cost was
$16,000,000.
Her armament consists of twelve fourteen-inch and twenty-two
five-inch guns, four three-pounders for the launches, two
three-inch guns for salutes, and four twenty-two-inch torpedo
tubes. The big guns are mounted in four turrets, two forward and
two aft, each containing three guns. The turrets nearer to the
middle of the ship are enough higher than the forward and aft
turrets to permit their guns to be fired directly ahead and
astern respectively. This arrangement permits the concentration
of six guns forward, six aft, and twelve on either broadside.
This vessel is probably armored more heavily than any other
warship afloat. Her main belt is sixteen inches thick, while the
_Iron Duke_, one of the latest British dreadnoughts, carries
only twelve inches.
V. Notes and Queries
1. Observe the structure:
Par. 1. General Description.
Par. 2. Statistics.
Par. 3. Offensive Power.
Par. 4. Defensive Arrangements.
2. Could the same structure be used for the description of a
freight boat, a passenger steamer, a ferryboat, a schooner, a
sloop, a brig, a brigantine, a tugboat, a launch, a locomotive,
a railway carriage, an airship, or an automobile?
3. What changes, if any, would you suggest?
4. Explain the terms "displacement," "draft," "normal," "knots,"
"pounds," "turrets."
5. Explain the metaphor in "belt." Is it a good one?
VI. Gathering Material
Do not get your material from reading; get it from observation. Don't
steal it; earn it. Catch your fish; don't buy a string of dead ones at
the fish-market, and then lie about the way you obtained them. Few of us
can be original, but we can all be honest and industrious.
VII. Organization
Before you write, make a plan. It is as necessary in composition as in
building. If the nature of your subject or the kind and quantity of your
material render it desirable to deviate from the model, do not hesitate
to do so. As a rule, however, it will be best to follow its plan rather
closely. At all events, work from some plan. Don't get the idea that you
can dash off a finished exposition in a few minutes.
VIII. Writing
Exposition above everything else should be clear. Say what you mean and
mean what you say.
IX. Criticism
The written expositions of house plans may be tested by having the
pupils exchange papers, and asking the recipients to draw the plans from
the compositions.
X. Suggested Reading
Rudyard Kipling's _The Ship that Found Herself_.
XI. Memorize
CHARITY
Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler sister woman;
Though they may gang a kennin' wrang,
To step aside is human.
One point must still be greatly dark,
The moving why they do it,
And just as lamely can ye mark
How far perhaps they rue it.
Who made the heart 'tis he alone
Decidedly can try us;
He knows each chord--its various tone,
Each spring--its various bias.
Then at the balance let's be mute;
We never can adjust it;
What's done we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted.
ROBERT BURNS.