dent may render it both ways, determining the meaning in each case.

One should be very careful in deciding this question. Where there is a preponderance of momentary completeness, the delivery will appear too emphatic and have the effect of dogmatism; and furthermore, the sign of momentary completeness, when used too frequently, will make so many ideas emphatic that there will be no perspective, no proportion. Here are excellent examples for practice.

One mast was broken short off, six or eight feet from the deck, and lay over on the side, entangled in a maze of sail and rigging; and in that ruin, as the ship rolled and beat, - which she did with a violence quite inconceivable, - beat the side as if it would stave it in. Some efforts were being made to cut this portion of the wreck away; for as the ship, which was broadside on, turned toward us in her rolling, I plainly descried her people at work with axes- - especially one active figure, with long curling hair. But a great cry,

audible even above the wind and water, rose from the shore; the sea, sweeping over the wreck, made a clean breach, and carried men, spars, casks, planks, bulwarks, — heaps of such toys, into the boiling surge. DICKENS.

Down the rivers, o'er the prairies,
Came the warriors of the nations,
Came the Delawares and Mohawks,
Came the Choctaws and Camanches,
Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet,
Came the Pawnees and Omahas,
Came the Mandans and Dacotahs,
Came the Hurons and Ojibways,
All the warriors drawn together
By the signal of the Peace-Pipe,
To the Mountains of the Prairie,

To the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry.

LONGFELLOW.

"The seed sown in life springs up in harvests of blessings or harvests of sorrow, whether our influence be great or small, whether

it be good or evil; it lasts, it lives somewhere, within some limit, and is operative wherever it is. The grave buries the dead dust; but the character walks the world, and distributes itself as a benediction or a curse among the families of mankind."

Implied Incompleteness.

I. NEGATIVE STATEMENT.

"I do not claim this is the only method."

"I cannot promise definitely, but I think you may rely upon getting it."

"I shall wait for you in the lobby, if you don't tarry too long." "It doesn't look like rain, does it?"

II. NON-AFFIRMATIVE STATEMENT.

A. Concession.

"There are some arguments in its favor, but they are not weighty."

"I grant I may have taken the honorable gentleman by surprise."

B. Inability to Assert.

"I cannot tell what you and other men

Think of this life, but, for my single self,

I had as lief not be as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself."

C. Unwillingness to Assert.

"I do not charge the gentleman with willful misstatement, but I would rather say he is a great economizer of the truth."

"I do not like to think that the opposition is purposely delaying the vote on this question."

"Never fear that: if he be so resolved,

I can o'ersway him."

D. Sense of Triviality.

"It would be idle to base an opinion on any argument of Mr. Webster."

"O, that is of no consequence; you don't believe that."

"It is hardly necessary for me to go over the charges of the attorney for the plaintiff; they are trivial and unimportant."

E. Obviousness or Familiarity in Thought.

"It goes without saying that you know the early history of these people."

"There are very few who haven't a bowing acquaintance with this subject."

esis.

"You know me well, and herein spend but time

To wind about my love with circumstance."

F. The Anticipatory or Negative Member of an Antith

"Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more."

"It is not that I doubt the gentleman's honesty, but that I question his authority."

"It was at the end of the war that this incident occurred; not at the beginning."

III. DOUBT.

Uncertainty, confusion, hesitation, and other forms of doubt, are really questions, the mind seeking solution of difficult and perplexing problems.

"I wish I could find some way out of this, but".

"There ought to be some other method of solving this difficulty: let me see, let me see."

"I would I had been there."

IV. INTERROGATION DIRECT, answerable by "yes or "no."

"Are you the owner of this house?"

"Can you tell me what time it is?"

Care must be taken not to confuse this form of Interrogation with Figurative Interrogation. The latter is often strongly assertive. For instance,

"God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before?"

This is equivalent to asking a question and answering it at the same time. It asks in words, "was ever?" It answers in inflection, "there never was." Grammatically, then, it is a question; rhetorically, it is an exclamation. Here is another form of Figurative Interrogation,—

"Are you going out?" (No answer.) "Are you going out?" (I demand an answer.)

In this case the second question becomes a demand. The speaker cares for an answer not so much because of any interest in it as such, but because he desires his authority respected.

The following examples of Figurative Interrogation should be carefully studied:

"Is there a single atrocity of the French more unprincipled and inhuman than that of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, in Poland?"

"Did he not know that he was making history that hour? Did he not know this, I say."

"If I were to propose three cheers for Washington, is there a single man, woman, or child in this vast audience who would refuse to lift his voice?"

"Have you, gentlemen of the jury, considered the price the state asks the prisoner to pay for what is only an indiscretion at most? I repeat, have you considered the price?"

"Has the gentleman done? Has he completely done?"

A very interesting psychological question arises in connection with Figurative Interrogation. It has been shown how the grammatical question becomes an oratorical assertion; but there is a point in assertion beyond which it may pass and become intense emotional question. In this sentence, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" we have an illustration. There are three possibilities here. First: A simple question looking for information. Second: An exclamation equivalent to, Who does not know that the Judge of all the earth shall do right? Third (with considerable emotion): Is it possible that any one would deny that the Judge of all the earth shall do right?

V. SUPPLICATION OR ENTREATY.

"You won't leave me, father."

"Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up to such a sudden flood of mutiny!"

I. COMPARISON OR CONTRAST, WITH AFFIRMATION.

"Not inferior to this was the wisdom of him who resolved to shear the wolf. What, shear a wolf! Have you considered the danger of the attempt? No, says the madman, I have considered nothing but the right.”