The daily sentinel., 1910-06-17
HELPFUL HINTS FOR THOSE
WHO CUSS OR COMPOSE
TFrom the London Times. /


In the article on Emerson's Jour
mails, which we published on Thurs
day. there was quoted this SAYING of
Emerson's: NO man can write well
who thinks that there is any choice
of words for him. In good writing
good writing words become one with
things" This remark. or something
like it. has often been made before:
so often. indeed that many would
accept it without question. If you
know quite clearly what you have
to say, you can have no difficulty in
finding words for it. 1t is only the
writer with nothing particular to
say, or with confused mind, who is
troubled in the choice of his words
That sounds plausible enough but,
If it is true, why is good writing
so rare? and why, even for those who
can talk fluently, does II need so
much practice? The reason is that.
although words may often be, as EN-
erson puts 1t. one with things, they
are never one with ideas or emotions
and must always be very imperfect
instruments for expressing them.
Words have been made in the ordi-
nary business and intercourse of life.
and are adequate for the greater part
of it. But writer usually has some
thing more to say than is said in
the ordinary business and inter
course of life. something less rough
and ready. more general more pre-
else, or more full of emotion; and. If
this is so, he is sure to find that Ian
guage is an imperfect instrument for
his purpose.
We all know that thoughts are not
clear, and do not indeed fully exist,
until they are expressed in words
The thoughts expressed in writing.
at least in good writing, are more
highly organized. more subtle and
exact, than those expressed in ordi-
nary speech, and the writer is con-
cerned not only with the choice of
particular words but with the struc-
ture of sentences. by which alone
thoughts can be expressed
For thought is the action of the
mind; il is continuous, running
through words. connecting them with
each other and giving them life by
means of that connection: and il
only comes into the fulness of life it
self as it gives life to the sentence
which contains it, There is also con-
stant danger lest its vigor be ex-
hausted in the struggle to express it
lest 1t be overcome by the mere iner-
tia of words and die away in verb-
age like water in the sand
Every writer who would express
his own ideas must train his mind
necessarily by struggling with this
inertia of words, as the spirit must
train itself by struggling with the
inertia of the flesh. 1t is only by
means of such struggle that
thought can attain to conscious life
or prolone 1t. And the struggle is
even more eXacting where emotions
are to be expressed. For the Ian
guage of ordinary life is even less
suited for the expression of emotion
than for the expression of ideas.
When we talk to each other we usu-
ally express our emotions rather by
senture and changes of countenance
ana voice than by means of words.
And the words we use to express emo
ton are rather symbols of emotion
than expressive of 1t. The big, big
D. may warn us that the user
OF II is angry. il tells us nothing
about the nature of his anger. But
the writer has none of these aids to
the expression of emotion We can
not hear his voice or see his face or
his gestures and a big, big D"
is not effective in print. He must
express his emotion in words alone:
and his words must be expressive. not
mere symbols.