THE best writer is he who can convey the clearest thought in the shortest space. Some writers so hide their thoughts in useless words that it becomes a task after you have read a column to comprehend its meaning. Ornament in style is good when it beautifies the thoughts advanced; it is inexcusable when it covers them from sight. A writer, before he touches a pen, should first get a clear idea of the subject he is to handle; this well understood, his next effort should be to say what he has to say in the fewest words possible. We would not have a single thought dwarfed by a stingy use of language; but even this would be better than to see it choked out of existence by a superabundance of words. Write to the point, and when you have reached it, stop. It requires severe mental training to acquire that simplicity of expression which conveys to us the grandest thoughts in the fewest words, yet it is within the province of all to approach if not to equal it. It has been said that it is more difficult to abridge an article, or to write a short article well, than to present the same thoughts in double the space. When Queen Ann told Dr. South that his sermon had only one fault—that of being too short—he replied that he should have made it shorter if he had had more time. Let our writers—especially those of the press—boil down their efforts before they present them to the public. In this fast age the man who can say the best things in the shortest space is not far removed from a public benefactor.