Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-11-11

hundred dollars, anu variety oil other matters
complained Of in the preceding statement.
TIE ART OF CoMPosITIoN.--Young men
frequently grow dilatory in their arplica-
tion. and sometimes contract a disgust against
the common routine of studies, merely because
they have no definite notions Of the use to which
they are hereafter to apply their acquisitions. The
practice Of composing al stated times, would pro-
duce the sautory effect of enlarging their views Oh
this head. When they have become ready in COM
mittpg their ideas to paper, they begin to perceive
the utility fpursuine with ardor, the task Of ac-
quirins knowledge: for whatever they may have
already acquired, is put into requisition in the
course of this exercise. The resources Of memory,
the faculty of discrimination, and that judgment,
also caedinto active exerton, 10 the collection
Of sentences and in the arrangement Of the subject.
The mind is 1atered in having overcome a great
difficulty, and in the display fits powers in q new
way. The student had before been laying up trea-
sures, whose worth he could lily appreciate; but
he is stimulated to proceed more eagerly in his
Of studies because he is sensible that they
can be applied to an important purpose-the disc-
plne of his own mind. The value Of his previous
requirements was merely nominal. but he now pos
sesses the power of giving them currency, and of
ascertaining their value. By that facility, which
he has gained i'll arranging and communicating his
ideas, he is capable Of making himself eminently
useful in the counting house, and more able to COM
pete with his classmates in the University. But,
above all, if he intends to study law or divinity Ibis
dexterity in welding the pen will be of signal ad
vantage to hiln-and without it, he will be a mere
cypher.
The merchant is indebted, in no inconsderable
degree, to this art, for the of his foreign
gotations. In the correspondence of our well-edu-
Gated merchants, Perspicuty and neatness are very
conspicuous. They must, of necessity, be exped-
tious, when they transact business on extensive
scale-and they become So by means of continued
practice. This practice if commenced early, will
produce the same effect upon young nun Of the
most ordinary abilites-and, at the same time, give
him clearer insight into the structure Of hi. native
language, than laborous study Of its syntax, un-
connected with practical illustration. Its canons
will be firmly fixed in his mind, and become, it
were, part 50 tHdt Will dppeuT III"
tuitively correct, like the music OF one who plays
without note.
But some have made the objection, that young
men make so many absurd and ridiculous mistakes,
in their first essays, that requires much ingenuity
TO reduce them to decent form. This is the case,
at the commencement of every art by the inexpe-
rienced and it cannot therefore be alleged against
this, with more propriety than it be against all
others. The same care and attention that is be
slowed upon grammar, when the student begins it,
would make him tolerabe proficient in compost.
| ton, and, at the same time, a practical gramma-
| rian.
Every one is ready to admit that students ap-
proach this exercise with great difidence; and
sometimes they evpce SO great disrelish for it
that every possible effort is required, to induce
them to undertake il. So hard il is to set the ma.
chinery Of intellect into healthy motion The me-
mory may be easily supplied with materials form
tellectual improvemeut-but il is a more diiTicnl
thing, and a more important object, 10 make the
mind digest those materials. Should instructors
on that account suffer youth TO 60 on in careless
ness and incidence, without making an effort IL
their behalf! Should instructors cease to insist up
on the performance, and withhold the need Of en-
couragement, because their first writing. are crud,
and childish By no means. Such conduct woult
carry into literal execution, the threat ofthe youn:
scholastic mentioned by Hierocles, who, when h,
was operated upon by the fear Of drowning, declar
ed that he would never venture into the water, un
til he had learned to swim.
"True case in writing comes from art, not chance,
A those move easiest, who have learned to dance
Now every art is acquired by practice |: and tina
ofwrtins, in particular, requires a regular train
ing at an early period. Lads who have not bee,
habtuated to composition, have the sdAe difficult
Il ties to contend against, when they enter the Uni
. ver'ty, that attend those who have neglected th
} practice Of defamation. They are left far benin
the rest oftheir companions and, for the want q