arts of a composition, paragraph, or sentence
which are of most importance shall be so placed that they will arrest
the attention. By coherence is meant that principle of structure
which, in sentences, paragraphs, and whole compositions, places those
parts related in thought near together, and keeps separate those parts
which are separated in thought.

Main Incident.

For the construction of a story that will retain the reader's interest
to the end, for the selection of such material as will contribute to a
central thought, for the arrangement of this material so that the most
important matter shall occupy the most important position in the
theme, one simple rule is of value. It is this: _First choose the main
incident_ towards which all the other incidents converge, and for the
accomplishment of which the preceding incidents are necessary. A few
pages will be given to the application of this rule, and to the
results of its application.

Its Importance.

There should be in each story, however slight the plot, some incident
that is more important than the others, and toward which all the
others converge. A reader is disappointed if, after reading a story
through, he finds that there is no worthy ending, that all the
preparation was made for no purpose. If, in "Wee Willie Winkie,"
Kipling had stopped just before Miss Allardyce started across the
river, it would have been a poor story. It would have had no ending.
It is because a story gets somewhere that we like it. Yet not just
somewhere; it must arrive at a place worthy of all the preparation
that has preceded. A very common fault with the compositions of young
persons is that they begin big and end little. It is not infrequent
that the first paragraph promises well; the second is not quite so
good; and the rest gradually fall off until the end is worthless. The
order should be changed. Have the first paragraph promise well, make
the second better, and the last best of all. The main incident should
be more important than each incident that precedes it. Get the main
incident in mind before beginning; be sure it is the main incident;
then bend all your energies to make it the most important incident
toward which all the other incidents converge.

Unity.

The choice of a main incident will determine what incidents to
exclude. The world is full of incidents--enough to make volumes more
than we now have. A phonograph and a camera could gather enough any
day at