Remember that all this working to a formula is only a training in the
habit of clear thinking--a mental discipline.
When you can do without the formula, and not till then, you will begin
to be a writer.
=Editorials= are, in point of fact, simply little essays, usually
following closely the news or issues of the day. Their function is to
elucidate, summarize, inform, persuade, or merely comment. In their
highest form they are to prose writing what the sonnet is to verse; but
it must be confessed that numerous editorials are so completely
dominated by the so-called “editorial policy” of newspaper owners, or
colored by one of the various hues of partisanship, that their otherwise
beneficent influence and power are largely neutralized.
=Description.=--We mean by a _description_ the delineation of some
object or scene. Narration deals with successive facts; description with
objects that exist at the same time. We rarely find any literary
production of great length which is entirely descriptive; but
descriptions are often introduced into narratives with happy effect.
Sometimes they serve the purpose of making the narration impressive, by
moving the passions of the reader. At other times they are intended to
make the events more intelligible. Thus we have seen that some
narratives of battles are hard to follow because the writer has
neglected to give us a clear description of the battle-field.
Descriptions frequently serve as ornaments, affording an agreeable
variety to the narration, and presenting scenes of striking interest to
the imagination.
RULES.--The governing rules in description are the following: