"A narrator," says another author, "must not spend undue time or space upon any episode in his tale to the disadvantage of other parts. Whatever his scale is, he should follow it. Otherwise he will give emphasis to unimportant events, or slight important ones. The law of climax applies especially to narration, because the interest of the reader in the opening of a story is necessarily slight. When he becomes involved in the plot of the tale, his interest will either grow or disappear. As narrative becomes complex, as one event leads to a number of results, the reader's attention should be engaged more firmly. A weak ending is never so disappointing as in narration. Finally, every narrative should have as a center some one definite topic. (It is for this reason that we give Enoch as the center around which events in the Antediluvian dispensations gathered.) "For example, a history of the discovery of America, containing many hundreds of pages, and relating numerous events, will have but one principal subject--the early explorations upon this hemisphere,--to which all the characters, actions, and events will be made subordinate. * * * * * A good narrative then will move rapidly; action will follow action in close succession. Only significant events will be dwelt upon; much will be passed over with brief mention. Yet the connection of events will be made plain; the reader will never lose the thread." No matter how complex the narration becomes, it will have a simple subject as the center, and will march on with increasing interest to the end." (Composition and Rhetoric for Schools, Herrick and Damon, p. 428-9). If the subject is treated in an argumentative form, then the speaker should consider what has been already said on the subject of argumentative discourse in Lesson XIII. _3. Another Word on Clearness:_ In a former lesson (XIII) it was pointed out that Clearness consists of such a use and arrangement of words and clauses as at once distinctly indicate the meaning of the speaker; and pointed out how the obscure or equivocal use of pronouns was destructive of Clearness. In this lesson attention is called to the omission of words in a sentence necessary to its exact meaning--what the text books call "improper ellipsis."