1. Note the framework: (Par. 1) Mommsen's Law; (Par. 2) Illustration 1--Rome; (Par. 3) Illustration 2--Germany. 2. Topics for short speeches: Theodor Mommsen; The Rise of the Roman Empire; The Greeks; The People of the West; The Samnites and Etruscans; Brandenburg; The Great Elector; Prussia; Frederick the Great; Silesia; Poland; Schleswig and Holstein; Alsace and Lorraine; Saxony and Bavaria; Carthage; Julius Cæsar and his _Commentaries_. 3. Add to the model paragraphs on the expansion of Spain, France, Russia, England, and the United States, or on any one of them. VIII. Suggested Reading Cæsar's _Commentaries on the Gallic War_. Macaulay's _Frederick the Great_. Southey's _Life of Nelson_. Parkman's _The Conspiracy of Pontiac_. Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_. Fiske's _The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War_. IX. Memorize HUMANITY I would not enter on my list of friends, Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility, the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path; But he that has humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside and let the reptile live. The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight, And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes, A visitor unwelcome, into scenes Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove, The chamber, or refectory, may die; A necessary act incurs no blame. Not so when, held within their proper bounds, And guiltless of offence, they range the air, Or take their pastime in the spacious field. There they are privileged; and he that hunts Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong. The sum is this: If man's convenience, health, Or safety interfere, his rights and claims Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. Else they are all--the meanest things that are-- As free to live and to enjoy that life, As God was free to form them at the first, Who, in his sovereign wisdom, made them all. Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons To love it too. WILLIAM COWPER. CHAPTER XVI EDITORIALS--CONSTRUCTIVE "Opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making." JOHN MILTON. I. Introduction An editorial is a newspaper article in which the opinions of the editor are set forth. News deals with fact. In news articles the opinion of the writer must be suppressed. The pronouns "I" and "we" have no place in news. The essence of the editorial, on the other hand, is the opinion of the writer. On the editorial page, the man who directs the policy of a paper seeks to interpret the news in accordance with his own views and to persuade the public to adopt those views.