indifferent or uninteresting matter. In
this mastery of thought lies the difference between the sterile and
the productive mind. Only one brain in a thousand has not the
disposition to shirk work if it is allowed, and every student has
moments when his intelligence seems almost to act like a spoiled
child that hates to get up when called on a cold morning. To
establish the power of the will over the intellect is the object of
education, and the ability to exercise this power is what is meant
by the proper use of the word "cultivation."

The mental process of the cultivated thinker when considering any
subject is likely to be: first, to become sure of his terms; then,
clearly to set before his mind the facts and conditions; and,
lastly, to make the possible and resulting deductions and
conclusions. This gives a hint, and indeed practically affords a
rule for the writer of exposition.

An exposition, broadly speaking, may be said to consist of three
steps which nearly correspond to the three steps of mental
activity just set down: the Definition, the Statement, and the
Inference.

Definition is making clear to self or to the reader what is under
discussion.

Statement is the setting forth of whatever is to be said of the
facts, conditions, relations, and so on, which it is the object of
the exposition to make clear.

Inference is the conclusion or conclusions drawn.

These three parts will seldom be found as formal divisions in any
ordinary exposition, but in some sort they are always present; and
the writer must at least have them clear in his mind if he hopes to
render his work well ordered, comprehensive, and symmetrical.
Together they are woven as the strands which give a firmness of
texture to the whole.

To illustrate the bearing of this analysis on the composition of an
exposition, we may imagine that a student has been required to
write a theme on "The Influence of College Life." He has first to
concern himself with definition. He must decide what he means by
college life as a molding influence; whether its intellectual, its
social, its moral aspects, or all these. He must consider, too,
whether he is to deal with the effect upon specific characters or
upon types; whether upon boys during the time they are in college