The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-03-31

you, and through you upon him, atruth
or two, which experience has made me
aware of, and which 1 would have given
great deal to have been acquainted
with earlier in life from the experience
OF others"
EARLY APPLICATION.
First, that the foundation of all ex-
Icellence Is to be laid In early application
| to general knowledge Is clear; that he
is already aware of, and equally so 1t is
| (of which he may not be SO well aware
that professional eminence can only be
attained by entering betimes into the
Lowest drudgery, the most repulsiye
| labors of the profession. Even a year
| in an attorneys office, as the law Is
now practiced, / should not hold too Sc
we're task, nor too high price to pay,
for the benefit it must surely lead to |;
ipleader, / am quite convinced, 1t is the
Thing before being called to the bar.
A young man whose mind has been
we'll imbued with general learning, and
has acquired classical propensities, viii
never sink into a mere drudge. He viii
always save himself harmless from the
dull atmosphere he must live and act
in, and the sooner he will emerge from
it and arrive at eminence. But what
wish to inculate especially, with a view
to the great talent for public speaking
which your son happily possesses, is
that heshould cultivate that talent in
the only way in which it can reach the
height of art; and wish to turn his at
tention to two points. speak on this
subject with the authority both of eS-
perience and observations; i have made
It very much my study in theory; have
written a great deal upon it which may
never see the light, and something
which has been published; have medi-
tated much and conversed much on 1t
with famous men; have had some little
practical experience in 1t, but have
prepared for much more than L ever
tried, by variety OF labortouS meth
ods-reading, writing, much transla-
ton, composing in foreign languages,
&C.; and have lived in times when
there were great orators among us
thereforeI reckon my opinion worth
listening to, and the rather because 1
have the utmost confidence in myself,
and should have saved world of
trouble and much time had started
with conviction of its truth.
EASY SPEAKING.
L. The first point is this-the begin
ming of theart is to acquire habit of
easy speaking; and in whatever way
this can be had (Which individual in
clination or accident will generally di-
rect, DudN Dc bdlbAy SOAO oOy
it must be had. Now differ from all
doctors in rhetoric in this-I say, let
him first of all, learn to speak easily
and fluently; as well as sensibly as he
can, no doubt, but, at any rate, let him
learn to speak. That is to eloquence
or good public speaking, what the be-
ing able to talk In a child is TO correct
Grammatical speech. 1t is the requisite
foundation, and on it you must build.
Moreover, it can only be acquired
Young, therefore let it, by all means,
and at any sacrifice, be gotten hold OF,
forthwith. But in acquiring it, every
sort of sIovenly error will also be ac-
quired- It must be got by g haolt OF
easy writing (which, as Wyndham says,
proved hard reading;) by a custom OF
talking much in companyi by speaking
in debating societies, with little atten-
ton to rule, and more love OF saying
something at any rate than ofanythlng
we'll. can even suppose that more
attention is paid to the matter in such
discussions Than to the manner of say
ing it; yet still to say it easily, Gd hbftuHl
TO be able to say what you choose, and
what YOU have to say-this Is the hrst
requisite, to acquire which everything
else must for the present be sacrificed.
GREEK MODELS.
1.-The would be great orator, he must
90 at once to the fountain head, and be
familiar with every one of the. great
orations of Demosthenes. L take for
granted that he knows those of Cicero
by heart; they are very beautiful, but
not very useful, except, perhaps, the
milo, 'f"Pro Ligario," and one or two
more; but the Greek must positively be
the model; and merely reading 1t, as
bows do, TO know the language, won't
do at ali, he must enter into the spirit
of each speech, Thoroughly know the
positions OF the parties, follow each turn
ofthe argument, and make the abso-
lutely perfect and most chaste and Sc
we're Compositions familiar to his mind.
His taste will improve every time he
reads and repeats to himself (for he
should have the fine passages by
heart ! and he will learn how much may
| be done by skillful use of a few words
| and a rigorous rejection of all superhu-
titles. In this view, l hold a familiar
knowledge of Dante TO be next to De-
mosthenes. 1t is in vain to say that i'm
itations of these models won't do for
our times. First, 1 do not counsel any
limitations but, only imbibing of the
same spirit. Secondly, 1 know from
/ experience that nothing is half so sue
ooSsf,,I in these times bad though they