want, and does not pay for what he does want. He cannot withstand the charms of a toy-
shop; snuff-boxes, watches, heads or canes, etc., are his destruction. His servants and
tradesmen conspire with his own indolence to cheat him, and in a very little time he is
astonished, in the midst of all the ridiculous superfluities, to find himself in want of all
the real comforts and necessaries of life. Without care and method the largest fortune will
not, and with them almost the smallest will, supply all necessary expenses. Keep an
account in a book, of all that you receive, and of all that you pay; for no man, who knows
what he receives and what he pays, ever runs out.
11. A great part of Arabia is desert. Here there is nothing but sand and rock. The
sand is so hot that you cannot walk over it with your bare feet in the daytime. Here and
there in the desert are springs of water that come from deep down under the ground so
deep that the sun cannot dry them up. These springs are few and far apart, but wherever
there is one, trees grow tall and graceful, making a cool, green, shady place around the
spring. Such a place is called an oasis.
The Arabs who are not in the cities live in the desert all the year round. They live
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in tents that can be put up and taken down very easily and quickly so that they can move
from one oasis to another, seeking grass and water for their sheep, goats, camels and
horses. These desert Arabs eat ripe, sweet figs, and also the dates that grow upon the
palm trees; they dry them, too, and use them as food all the year round.
These Arabs have the finest horses in the world. An Arab is very proud of his riding
horse, and loves him almost as much as he loves his wife and children. He never puts
heavy loads upon his horse, and often lets him stay in the tent with his family.
The camel is much more useful to the Arab than his beautiful horse, however, for he is
much larger and stronger. One camel can carry as much as or more than two horses. The
Arab loads the camel with goods and rides him, too, for miles and miles across the desert
- just as if he were really the "Ship of the Desert," which he is often called.
12. Ferdinand and Isabella, informed of the return and discoveries of their admiral,
awaited him at Barcelona with honour and munificence worthy of the greatness of
his services. The nobility came from all the provinces to meet him. He made a triumphal
entry as a prince of future kingdoms. The Indians brought over as a living proof of the
existence of new races in these newly-discovered lands, marched at the head of the
procession, their bodies painted with diverse colours, and adorned with gold necklaces
and pearls. The animals and birds, the unknown plants, and the precious stones collected
on these shores, were exhibited in golden basins, carried on the heads of Moorish
or Negro slaves. The eager crowd pressed close upon them, and wondrous tales were
circulated about the officers and companions of Columbus. The admiral himself,
mounted on a richly caparisoned charger presented by the king, next appeared,
accompanied by a numerous cavalcade of courtiers and gentlemen. All eyes were
directed toward the man inspired of Heaven, who first had dared lift the veil of Ocean.
People sought in his face for a sign of his mission and thought they could discern one.
The beauty of his features, the majesty of his countenance, the vigour of eternal youth
joined to the dignity of age the combination of thought with action, of strength with
experience, a thorough appreciation of his worth combined with piety, made Columbus
then appear (as those relate who saw him enter Barcelona) like a prophet, or a hero of
Holy Writ or Grecian story.
"None could compare with him," they say; "all felt him to be the greatest or most
fortunate of men."
Ferdinand and Isabella received him on their throne, shaded from the sun by a golden
canopy. They rose up before him, as though he had been an inspired messenger. They
then made him sit on a level with themselves, and listened to the circumstantial account
of his voyage. At the end of his recital, which habitual eloquence had coloured with his
exuberant imagination, the king and queen, moved to tears, fell on their knees and
repeated the Te Deum, a thanksgiving for the greatest conquest the Almighty had yet
vouchsafed to sovereigns.
13. Up the River Hudson in North America are the Catskill Mountains. In a certain
village at the foot of these mountains, there lived long ago a man named Rip Van
Winkle. He was a simple and good-natured person, a very-kind neighbour and a great
favourite among alt the good wives of the village. Whenever there was a squabble in the
family of Rip, the women in the village always took his part and laid all the blame on
Dame Van Winkle.
The children of the village too would shout with joy, whenever they saw him. He helped
at their sports, made playthings for them, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles and
told them long stories of ghosts, witches and Indians.
Rip had no love for labour, if it would bring him profit. He would sit for a whole day on a
wet rock and fish without a murmur, even though he did not catch a single fish. He would
carry a light gun on his shoulder for hours together and shoot only a few squirrels or wild
pigeons.
He would never refuse to assist a neighbour even in roughest toil. The women of
the village often employed him to run their errands and to do little jobs for them. In a
word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own. He was, however, one
of those men who take the world easy. He would eat coarse bread or fine, whichever
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could be got with least thought or trouble. And he would rather starve on a penny than
work for a pound.
If left to himself, Rip would have whistled away life in perfect contentment. But his wife
always kept drumming in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness and the ruins he
was bringing on his family. Rip had but one way of replying to all her lectures-he shook
his head, cast up his eyes and said nothing. He had one good friend at home and that was
his dog Wolf which was as idle as the master.
14. The man who is perpetually hesitating which of the two things he will do first, will do
neither. The man who resolves, but suffers his resolution to be changed by the first
counter-suggestions of a friend, - who fluctuates from opinion to opinion, from plan to
plan, and veers like a weather-cock to every point of the compass, with every breath of
caprice that blows - can never accomplish any thing great or useful. Instead of being
progressive in any thing, he will be at best stationary, and more probably retrograde in
all. It is only the man who first consults wisely, then resolves firmly, and then executes
his purpose with flexible perseverance, undismayed by those petty difficulties which
daunt a weaker spirit, that can advance to eminence in any line. Take your course wisely,
but firmly; and having taken it, hold upon it with heroic resolution, and the Alps and
Pyrenees will sink before you.
15. Nature seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her blessings among the
different regions of the world with an eye to this mutual intercourse and traffic among
mankind, that the natives of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of
dependence upon one another, and be united together by their common interest. Almost
every degree produces something peculiar to it. The food often grows in one country, and
the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbadoes,
and the infusion of a China plant is sweetened by the pith of an Indian cane. The
Philippine islands give a flavour to our European bowls. The single dress of a woman of
quality is often the product of a hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together
from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from Jie torrid zone, and the tippet
from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat rises out of the mines of Peru, and the
diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indostan.
16. It is the height of selfishness for men, who fully appreciate in their own case the great
advantage of a good education, to deny these advantages to women. There is no valid
argument by which the exclusion of the female sex from the privilege of education can be
defended. It is argued that women have their domestic duties to perform, and that, if they
were educated, they would bury themselves in their books and have little time for
attending to the management of their households. Of course it is possible for women, as it
is for men, to neglect necessary work in order to spare more time for reading sensational
novels. But women are no more liable to this temptation than men. and most women
would be able to do their household work all the better for being able to refresh their
minds in the intervals of leisure with a little reading. Nay, education would even help
them in the performance of the narrowest sphere of womanly duty. For education
involves knowledge of the means by which health may be preserved and improved, and
enables a mother to consult such modern books as will tell her how to rear up her
children into healthy men and women and skilfully nurse them and her husband when
disease attacks her household. Without education she will be not unlikely to listen with
fatal results to the advice of superstitious quacks, who pretend to work wonders by
charms and magic.
But according to a higher conception of woman's sphere, woman ought to be something
more than a household drudge. She ought to be able not merely to nurse her husband in
sickness, but also to be his companion in health. For this part of her wifely duty education
is necessary, for there cannot well be congenial companionship between an educated man
and an uneducated wife, who can converse with her husband on no higher subjects than
cookery and servants' wages. Also one of a mother's highest duties is the education of her
children at the time when their mind is most amenable to.
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instruction. A child's whole future life, to a large extent, depends on the teaching it
receives in early childhood, and it is needless to say, that this first foundation of
education cannot be well laid by an ignorant mother. On all these grounds female
education is a vital necessity.
17. The effect produced on the mind by travelling depends entirely on the mind of the
traveller and on the way in which he conducts himself. The chief idea of one very
common type of traveller is to see as many objects of interest as he possibly can. If he
can only after his return home say that he has seen such and such a temple, castle,
picture gallery, or museum, he is perfectly satisfied. Therefore, when he arrives at a
famous city, he rushes through it, so that he may get over as quickly as possible the task
of seeing its principal sights, enter them by name in his note-book as visited or, in his
own phraseology 'done', and then hurry on to another city which he treats in the same
unceremonious way.
Another kind of traveller in all he sees finds entertainment for his foolish spirit of
ridicule. The more hallowed any object is from historical and religious associations or
artistic beauty, the more he delights to degrade it by applying to it familiar terms of
vulgar slang that he mistakes for wit. Such a one brings disgrace upon his nation by the
rude insolence with which he laughs at foreigners and their ways, and everything else that
attracts the notice of his feeble understanding. At the end of his wanderings he returns to
his home a living example, showing
How much the fool that hath been taught to roam
Excels the fools that hath been kept at home.
Far different is the effect of travels upon who leave their native country with minds
prepared by culture to feel intelligent admiration for all the beauties of nature and art to
be found in foreign lands. Their object is not to see much, but to see well. When they
visit Paris or Athens or Rome, instead of hurrying from temple to museum, and from
museum to picture gallery, they allow the spirit of the place to sink into their minds, and
only visit such monuments as the time they .have at their disposal allows them to
contemplate without irreverent haste. They find it more profitable and delightful to settle
down for a week or so at centres of great historical and artistic interest or of remarkable
natural beauty, than to pay short visits to all the principal cities that they pass by. In this
way they gain by their travels refreshment and rest for their minds, satisfaction to their
intellectual curiosity or artistic tastes, and increased knowledge of the world and its
inhabitants. Such people, who have travelled with their eyes open, return to their native
land with a greater knowledge of its glories and defects than the stay-at-home can ever
have.
18. It is in the temperate countries of northern Europe that the beneficial effects of cold
are most manifest. A cold climate seems to stimulate energy by acting as an obstacle. In
the face of an insuperable obstacle our energies are numbed by despair; the total absence
of obstacles, on the other hand leaves no room for the exercise and training of energy; but
a struggle against difficulties that we have a fair hope of overcoming, calls into active
operation all our powers. In like manner, while intense cold numbs human energies, and a
hot climate affords little motive for exertion, moderate cold seems to have a bracing
effect on the human race. In a moderately cold climate man is engaged in an arduous, but
no hopeless struggle with the inclemency of the weather He has to build strong houses
and procure thick clothes to keep himself warm. To supply fuel for his fires, he must hew
down trees and dig coal out of the bowels of the earth. In the open air, unless he moves
quickly, he will suffer pain from the biting wind. Finally, in order to replenish the
expenditure of bodily tissue caused by his necessary exertions, he has to procure for
himself plenty of nourishing food.
Quite different is the lot of man in the tropics. In the neighbourhood of the equator there
is little need of clothes or fire, and it is possible with perfect comfort and no danger to
health, to pass the livelong day stretched out on the bare ground beneath the shade of a
tree. A very little fruit or vegetable food is required to sustain life under such
circumstances, and that little can be obtained without much exertion from the bounteous
earth.
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We may recognize much the same difference between ourselves at different seasons of
the year, as there is between human nature in the tropics and in temperate climes. In hot
weather we are generally languid and inclined to take life easily; but when the cold
season comes, we find that we are more inclined to vigorous exertion of our minds and
bodies.
19. One of the peculiarities which distinguish the present age is the multiplication of
books. Every day brings new advertisements of literary undertakings, and we are flattered
with repeated promises of growing wise on easier terms than our progenitors.
How much either happiness or knowledge is advanced by this multitude of authors, is not
very easy to decide.
He that teaches us anything which we know not before, is undoubtedly to be loved as a
benefactor; and he that supplies life with innocent amusement, will be certainly caressed
as a pleasing companion.
But few of those who fill the world with books, have any pretensions to the hope either of
pleasing or instructing. They have often no other task than to lay two books before them
out of which they compile a third, without any new materials of their own, and with little
application of judgement to those which former authors have supplied.
That all compilations are useless, I do not assert. Particles of science are often very
widely scattered upon topics very remote from the principal subject, which are often
more valuable than formal treatises, and which yet are not known because they are not
promised in the title. He that collects those under proper heads is very laudably
employed; for though he exerts no great abilities in the work, he facilitates the progress of
others, and, by making that easy of attainment which is already written, may give some
mind more vigorous or more adventurous than his own, leisure for new thoughts and
original designs.
But the collections poured lately from the press have seldom been made at any great
expense of time or inquiry, and therefore only serve to distract choice without supplying
any real want.
20. Hospitality is a virtue for which the natives of the East in general are highly and
deservedly admired; and the people of Egypt are well entitled to commendation on
this account. A word which signifies literally "a person on a journey" ("musafir") is the
term most commonly employed in this country in the sense of a visitor or guest. There
are very few persons here who would think of sitting down to a meal, if there were a
stranger in the house without inviting him to partake of it unless the latter were a menial;
in which case, he would be invited to eat with the servants. It would be considered a
shameful violation of good manners if a Muslim abstained from ordering the table to be
prepared at the usual time because a visitor happened to be present. Persons of the middle
classes in this country, if living in a retired situation, sometimes take their supper before
the door of their house, and invite every passenger of respectable appearance to eat with
them. This is very commonly done among the lower order. In cities and large towns,
claims on hospitality are unfrequent; as there are many wekalehs, or khans, where
strangers may obtain lodging; and food is very easily procured; but in the vitlages,
travellers are often lodged and entertained by the Sheikh or some other inhabitant; and if
the guest be a person of the middle or higher classes, or even not very poor he gives a
present to his host's servants, or to the host himself. In the desert, however, a present is
seldom received from a guest, By a Sunneh law, a traveller may claim entertainment from
a person able to afford it to him, for three days.
21. Day by day her influence and dignity increased. First of all she received the
title of Noor Mahal, 'Light of the Harem' but was afterwards distinguished by that of
Noor Jahan Begam, 'Light of the World.' All her relations and connexions were raised
to honour and wealth No grant of lands was conferred upon any one except under
her seal, In addition to giving her the titles that other kings bestowed, the Emperor
granted Noor Jahan the rights of sovereignty and government. Sometimes she would sit
in the balcony of her palace, while the nobals world present themselves, and listen to
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her dictates. Coin was struck in her name, with this super-scription:'By order of the King
Jehangir, gold has a hundred splendours added to it by receiving the impression of the
name of Noor Jahan, the Queen Begam.' On all farmers also receiving the Imperial
signature, the name of 'Noor Jahan, the Queen Begam,' was jointly attached. At last her
authority reached such a pass that the King was such only in name. Repeatedly he gave
out that he had bestowed the sovereignty on Noor Jahan Begam, and would say, 'I require
nothing beyond a sir of wine and half a sir of meat.' It is impossible to describe the beauty
and wisdom of the Queen. In any matter that was presented to her, if a difficulty arose,
she immediately solved it. Whoever threw himself upon her protection was preserved
from tyranny and oppression; and if ever she learnt that any orphan girl was destitute and
friendless, she would bring about her marriage, and give her a wedding portion. It is
probable that during her reign not less than 500 orphan girls were thus married and
portioned.
22. Dante was of moderate height and after reaching maturity, was accustomed to
walking somewhat bowed, with a slow and gentle pace, clad always in such sober dress
as befitted his ripe years. His face was large, and the lower lip protruded beyond the
upper. His complexion was dark, his hair and beard thick, black, and curled, and his
expression ever melancholy and thoughtful.
In both his domestic and his public demeanour he was admirably composed and orderly,
and in all things courteous and civil beyond any other. In food and drink he was most
temperate, both in partaking of them at the appointed hours and in not passing the limits
of necessity. Nor did he show more epicurism in respect of one thing than another, He
praised delicate viands, but ate chiefly of plain dishes, and censured beyond measure
those who bestow a great part of their attention upon possessing choice things, and upon
the extremely careful preparation of the same, affirming that such persons do not eat to
live, but rather live to eat.
None was more vigilant than he in study and in whatever else he undertook, insomuch
that his wife and family were annoyed thereby, until they grew accustomed to his ways,
and after that they paid no heed thereto. He rarely spoke unless questioned, and then
thoughtfully, and in a voice suited to the matter whereof he treated. When, however, there
was cause he was eloquent and fluent in speech, and possessed of an excellent and ready
delivery. In his youth he took the greatest delight in music and song, and enjoyed the
friendship and intimacy of all the best singers and musicians of his time. Led on by this
delight he composed many poems, which he made them clothe in pleasing and masterly
melody.
23. People moan about poverty as a great evil; and it seems to be an accepted belief that
if people only had plenty of money, they would be happy and useful and get more out of
life. As a rule, there is more genuine satisfaction in life and more obtained from life in the
humble cottage of the poor man than in the palaces of the rich. I always pity the sons and
daughters of rich men, who are attended by servants, and have governesses at a later age;
at the same time I am glad to think that they do not know what they have missed.
It is because I know how sweet and happy and pure the home of honest poverty is, how
free from perplexing care and from social envies and jealousies-how loving and united its
members are in the common interest of supporting the family that I sympathize with the
rich man's boy and congratulate the poor man's son. It is for these reasons that from the
ranks of the poor so many strong, eminent, self-reliant men have always sprung and
always must spring. If you will read the list of the "Immortals who were not born to die,"
you will find that most of them have been born poor.
It seems nowadays a matter of universal desire that poverty should be abolished. We
should be quite willing to abolish luxury; but to abolish honest, industrious, self-denying
poverty would be to destroy the soil upon which mankind produces the virtues that will
enable our race to reach a still higher civilization than it now possesses.
24. The situation of Columbus was daily becoming more and more critical. In proportion
as he approached the reason where he expected to find land, the impatience of his crews
augmented the favourable signs which increased his confidence where
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decided by them as delusive; and there was danger of their rebelling and obliging him to
turn back, when on the point of realizing the object of all his labours. They beheld
themselves with dismay still wafted onward over the boundless wastes of what appeared
to them a mere watery desert surrounding the habitable world. What was to become of
them should their provisions fall? Their ships were too weak and defective even for the
great voyage they had already made, but if they were still to press forward, adding at
every moment to the immense expanse behind them, how should they ever be able to
return, having no intervening port where they might victual and refit? Were they to sail in
until they perished, or until all return became impossible? In such case they would be the
authors of their own destruction.
On the other hard, should they consult their safety and turn back before too late, who
would blame them? Any complaints made by Columbus would be of no weight; he was a
foreigner, without friends or influence; his schemes had been condemned by the learned
and discountenanced by people of all ranks. He had no party to uphold him, and a host of
opponents whose pride of opinion would be gratified by his failure. Or, as an effectual
means of preventing his complaints, they might throw him into the seas. and give out that
he had fallen overboard while busy with his instruments contemplaing the stars, a report
which no one would have either the inclination or the means to controvert.
Columbus was not ignorant of the mutinous disposition of his crew, but he still
maintained a serene and steady countenance--soothing some with gentle words,
endeavouring to stimulate the pride or avarice of others, and openly menacing the
refractory with signal punishment, should they do anything whatever to impede the
voyage.
25. The great Roman orator, Cicero, in his celebrated treatise on Friendship, remarks with
truth that it increases happiness and diminishes misery by die doubling of our joy and the
dividing of our grief. When we do well, it is delightful to have friends who are so proud
of our success that they receive as much pleasure from it as we do ourselves. For the
friendless man the attainment of wealth, power, and honour is of little value. Such
possessions contribute to our happiness most by enabling us to do good to others but if all
those whom we are able to benefit are strangers, we take far less pleasure in our
beneficence than if it were exerted on behalf of friends whose happiness is as dear to us
as our own. Further, when we do our duty in spite of temptation, the mental satisfaction
obtained from the approval of our consciences is heightened by the praise of our friends;
for their judgement is as it were a second conscience, encouraging us in good and
deterring us from evil. Our amusements have little zest and soon pall upon us if we
engage in them in solitude, or with uncongenial companions, for whom we can feel no
affection. Thus in every case our joys are rendered more intense and more permanent by
being shared with friends.
It is equally true that, as Cicero points out, friendship diminishes our misery by enabling
us to share the burden of it with others. When fortune has inflicted a heavy unavoidable
blow upon us, our grief is alleviated by friendly condolence, and by the thought that as
long as friends are left to us, life is still worth living.
But many misfortunes which threaten us are not inevitable and in escaping such
misfortunes, the advice and active assistance of our friends may be invaluable. The
friendless man stands alone, exposed, without protection to his enemies and to the Wows
of fortune; but whoever has loyal friends is thereby provided with a strong defence
against the worst that fortune can do to him.
26. The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy.
His son or his daughter, that he has reared with loving care, may prove ungrateful. Those
who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good
name, may become traitors to their faith.
The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him perhaps when he needs it
most.
A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people
who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honour when success is with us, may be the
first to throw stones of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.
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The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that
never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will
sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if
only he may be by his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he
will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world.
He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he was a prince. When all other friends
desert he remains.
When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the
sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the
world, friendless, homeless, the .faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of
accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the
last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in his embrace, and his body is laid
away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the
graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open
in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.
A work from S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD.
CHAPTER 39
EXPANSION OF PASSAGES
This exercise is the exact opposite of Precis-writing. In Precis-writing we have to
compress; and in these exercises we have to expand. A sentence, or a short passage, has
to be enlarged into a paragraph by the fuller and more elaborate expression of its
meaning, or by adding illustrations, details or proofs to a simple statement. Such exercise
practically amounts to the writing of miniature essays on the subject of the original
sentence or passage. No strict rule can be laid down for the length of the expansion; it
must not be too short, or it will scarcely be an expansion, or so long as to become an
essay. On the average, eighty to one hundred words should be aimed at.
METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. Carefully read the original sentence or passage until you feel that you clearly
understand its meaning. (It is a good practice to try to express the main idea in a word or
a phrase; e.g., the real subject of the second specimen is, "Pride in One's Work.")
2. Having grasped the subject and meaning of the passage, proceed to expand it by
adding details, illustrations, proofs, examples etc., until it is a tiny essay only long
enough to make a paragraph.
3. The expansion must contain all that was in the original passage; and more can be
added, so long as it is strictly relevant to the subject. [For instance, in Specimen No. 3
(Let thy secret, unseen acts, etc.) the story of the Greek sculptor is not in the original, but
it well illustrates the meaning of the passage.]
4. The sentence for expansion is a conclusion or finished prod-
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uct: and it is your work to trace the steps by which this thought has been arrived at.
5. If it is a metaphor, explain its full meaning in plain language, and give reasons to
support it.
6. Your expansion should read as a complete piece of composition, expressed in good
English; such that it can be clearly understood apart from the original passage. So, when
you have written it, go over it carefully to see that nothing essential has been omitted or
left obscure.
7. Correct all mistakes in spelling, grammar and punctuation.
SPECIMENS
-1-
A great deal of talent is lost in the world for the want of a little courage.
EXPANSION
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Timidity and self-distrust are almost as great faults as conceit and over-confidence. There
are many people who have real talent in different lines, and yet who never accomplish
anything, because they are afraid to make the first venture; and in this way good and
useful things are lost to the world. A reasonable amount of confidence in one's own
powers is necessary for success.
-2-
If I were a cobbler, it would be my pride The best of all cobblers to be; If I were a tinker,
no tinker beside Should mend an old kettle like me.
EXPANSION
PRIDE IN ONE'S WORK
It is a great thing to take a pride in our work. Anything that is worth doing at all. is worth
doing well. Even in the humblest task we should be ambitious to do it as well as we can,
if possible better than anyone else. For example, a cobbler should not think that because
his job is a humble one, it can be scamped and done anyhow; he should be determined to
make better shoes than any other cobbler; and a tinker should take pride in mending even
an old kettle better than any other tinker can.
-3-
Let thy secret, unseen acts,
Be such as if the men thou prizest most
Were witnesses around thee.
EXPANSION
TOWARD GOODNESS
A Greek sculptor, when he was asked why he carved the backs of his statues, which no
man would ever see, as carefully as he carved the front, said : “The Gods
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will see them !" So it is not enough for us to live outwardly good lives while in secret we
allow evil in our hearts, for God knows even if men do not! We should never do in secret
what we should be ashamed of doing in the presence of our most valued friends.
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.
EXPANSION
MAKING THE BEST OF LIFE
Men who are always grumbling about their poverty, complaining of their difficulties,
whining over their troubles, and thinking that their lot in this world is mean and poor, will
never get any happiness out of life or achieve any success. However mean our life may
be, if we face it bravely and honestly and try to make the best of it, we shall find that after
all it is not so bad as we thought: and we may have our times of happiness and the joys of
success. There is nothing common or unclean, until we make it so by the wrong attitude
we adopt towards it.
-5-
Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war.
EXPANSION
THE VICTORIES OF PEACE
The word victory is generally associated in our minds with war, and calls up visions of
battles, bloodshed, and conquest by force : and we think of war as a glorious thing
because of its famous victories and splendid triumphs. But when we think of the
achievements of great men - statesmen, scholars, social reformers, scientists,
philanthropists, explorers, discoverers and honest workers - for the betterment of the
human race and the progress and civilization of the world, we realize that the victories of
peace are even more glorious than the victories of war.
Exercise 149
Expand the idea contained in each of the following :-
1. It is a great loss to a man when he cannot laugh.
2. Charity is a universal duty, which it is in every man's power sometimes to practise.
3. Slow and steady wins the race.
4. He who follows two hares catches neither.
5. A great city is, to be sure, the school for studying life.
6. 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
7. The noblest men that live on earth,
Are men whose hands arc brown with toil.
8. Where there's a will there's a way.
9. Perseverance is the very hinge of all virtues.
10. Honour and shame from no condition rise :
Act well your part; there all the honour lies.
11. They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.
12. Great talkers are never great doers.
13. The crown and glory of life is Character.
14. Life indeed would be dull, if there were no difficulties.
15. Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.
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16. Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream.
17. To anyone who wishes to amend his life there is no time like the present.
18. The real dignity of a man lies, not in what he has, but in what he is.
19. He that is humble, ever shall
Have God to be his guide.
20. What is this life, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
21. Home-keeping youths have ever homely wits.
22. Houses are built to live in and not to look on.
23. Nothing was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
24. Train up a child in the way he should go.
25. Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
26. Custom reconciles us to everything.
27. Do the work that's nearest,
Though it's dull at whiles,
Helping when we meet them,
Lame dogs over stiles.
28. Each man's belief is right in his own eyes.
29. The good are always the merry, save by an evil chance.
30. The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upwards in the night.
31. One crowded hour of glorious life.
Is worth an age without a name.
32. Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?
33. Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
CHAPTER 40
ESSAY-WRITING
The word Essay is defined in "The Concise Oxford Dictionary" as "a literary composition
(usually prose and short) on any subject." Properly speaking, it is a written composition
giving expression to one's own personal ideas or opinions on some topic; but the term
usually covers also any writtten composition, whether it expresses personal opinions, or
gives information on any given subject, or details of a narrative or description.
