Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-16
PREPARING PAPER FOR A CLUB


ization is a matter which the young
girl and the woman of today have fire.
quently to meet To be able to meet
it successfully is a source of satisfac-
tion to oneself and of pleasure and
service to others. 1t is therefore well
worth attention.
The first thing to consider is the pur-
pose of the paper Is it to inform, to
arouse a certain sentiment or merely
to amuse and entertain?
1t should be kept in mind, however,
that the fundamental thing is to in
terest, to hold the attention of the
hearers. The club paper that is not
interesting will neither inform nor en-
tertain, but making a paper interest
ing is far more a matter of definite
rule than is generally known.
The first requisite is material
knowledge of the subject. This must
be gathered from any source available
personal experience. the encyclopedia.
the public library, ones own books the
magazines, the daily papers. t. most
persons in the United states some pub.
&c library is within reach, and there.
if books upon the subject in question
arc lacking, the various guides II pc
rodical literature may point the way
10 useful magazine articles. Better
still is the reference filing system
which some of the more prog 'esSiVe
lihral les maintain.
knowledge of what material to use
what facts to present-comes next in
order of Importance. Here the best
guide is. of course. the purpose when
II is desired to accomplish-to inform.
stir OF entertain-but the newest and
least familiar material is usually the
most valuable. One wishes to produce
an air of freshness and originality, not
the dried and carefully articulated
skeleton of an encyclopedia.
One might we'll lay down the rule
that people are usually more interest
ing than places. In articles of travel,
therefore, and in many other papers,
personal incident and anecdotes are far
more interesting. and therefore more
useful, than mere description of local
tiles says a writer in the Youths Com
panion.
How to use the material at hand
brings us to the very heart of the
matter, for it means knowing how to
write But the case is not hopeless
even for the inexperienced
An outline of what it Is desired to
say is always useful. because the very
making of it helps one to think logic
ally A few main heads, with their
natural subdivisions. are better than
a long, complete framework. They al
low more freedom. When every pos
Sible phase or the subject is set GOWN
in its proper order, in the shape of
heading or subheading, the result is
likely to seem stiff and formal.
The one great rule for interesting
writing is, keep as much as possible
to the concrete and definite, and away
from the abstract and general. If you
are writing about Benjamin West, the
first noted American painter, YOU make
a weak and unimpressive statement
when you say that his early years were
so filled with privation that he had
difficulty in obtaining even the hum
BILE implements of his craft. But when
you tell your audience that he was so
poor that he had to cut hair from the
cats tail to make his first brush, you
say something they will listen to and
remember.
The choice of subjects for club pa
pers is often, if not usually, prede-
termined for the writer but it may
too, this matter of the concrete and the
abstract plays an important part.
There is far more danger that sub
ject will be too broad than that 1t
will be too narrow.
One other suggestion: Keep in mind
the fact that your paper is to be read
to an audience in your presence, and
not read by them in print. This means
that you should consider how the
spoken words will sound-and there
fore should lean toward simplicity.
The impression of words the sense
of which Is gathered through the ear
is often quite different from the i'm