itchen and dining-room.
The floors of the bungalow are of hard wood. They are waxed a few
times each year, and a little work each morning with dust mop and
carpet sweeper keeps them in good order. The washing is sent out.
"I couldn't earn an income from the farm if I had a farmhouse
without modern improvements," Mrs. Tupper declared. "Reducing
drudgery to a minimum is only plain business sense. Laundry work,
scrubbing, and dishwashing have a low economic value. Such unskilled
labor eats up the time and strength one needs for the more
profitable and interesting tasks of farm management, accounting and
correspondence, advertising and marketing."
THE PERSONALITY SKETCH. We all like to read about prominent and
successful people. We want to know more about the men and women who
figure in the day's news, and even about interesting persons whose
success has not been great enough to be heralded in the press. What
appeals to us most about these individuals is, not mere biographical
facts such as appear in _Who's Who_, but the more intimate details of
character and personality that give us the key to their success. We want
to see them as living men and women. It is the writer's problem to
present them so vividly that we shall feel as if we had actually met
them face to face.
The purpose of the personality sketch may be (1) to give interesting
information concerning either prominent or little known persons, (2) to
furnish readers inspiration that may bear fruit in their own lives, (3)
to give practical guidance by showing how one individual has
accomplished a certain thing. Whether the aim is to afford food for
thought, inspiration to action, or guidance in practical matters, the
treatment is essentially the same.
The recognized methods of describing characters in fiction may be used
to advantage in portraying real persons. These are (1) using general
descriptive terms, (2) describing personal appearance, (3) telling of
characteristic actions, (4) quoting their words, (5) giving biographical
facts, (6) citing opinions of others about them, (7) showing how others
react to them. By a judicious combination of several of these methods, a
writer can make his readers visualize the person, hear him speak, watch
him in characteristic actions, and understand his past life, as well as
realize what others think of him and how they act toward him.
Material for a personality sketch may be obt
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