Newark post., 1911-12-13
THE STUDY OF THE CLASSICS
An Address Recently Delivered Before the Newark High School by
Prof Elisha Conover OF Delaware College

c0lIp4" | had an ambition to be-
come Il great orator. it seemed to
me nothing could be @rander than
to sway vast audiences by the
power of cloquenCe as did Demos
themes. Cicero. Webster. and Pat
rick Henry. But in order to do
this one must have a message. All
these great orators were fired with
a message which they wished to con-
vey to the people. We cannot all
be Ciceros or Websters. but we can
improve the talents we have. and |
would urge every one OF you to
take advantage Of every opportu-
nifty You have to practice public
speaking and writing essays. Be
fore begin to speak of those two
great ancient languages which
have so influenced the progress of
civilization. | would like to empha-
size the Importance Of a thorough
knowledge of English. No person
can claim to be educated who can
not express himself in language
correctly spoken or written. There
is perhaps nothing that distin-
guishes man from the brute SO
much as his power of speech.
Homer. in speaking Of the aged
\estor. says: " From his lips flowed
speech sweeter than honey While
| have never realized my dream Of
becoming a great orator. | have al
ways had the greatest admiration
for oratory. | have noticed that
good speakers and writer's are gen
orally good lingrlists and appreciate
the value Of linguistic study.
Probably no one in this town appre-
ciateS the study Of the classics
more highly than DR.. Rowan. our
professor of oratory. His prede-
ce>sor. DR.. Purnell. had the same
high appreciation of the study Of
the classics.
Before going farther let me give
Nou the history of the word classics.
The citizens Of ancient Rome were
divided into six classes according to
wealth and rank. Those of the first
class were called cInSSicj. The
word thus camc to mean best first
class. SO the works of the best
authors in Latin and Greek were
called the classics and became
the models for ali subsequent writ
prS in various language~.
During my first year at Della
ware College. lS93-96. 5O.T per
cent. Of all the students in college
took Latin; the following year the
Latin students numbered 54.5 per
cent. the third year. 5S.2 per cent.
Thus you see during my first three
years here the percentage increased
every year. Then it began to de-
cline. During my fourth and fifth
Years. however. the percentage was
still higher than during my first.
About 1898 began a period Of Won
derful industrial prosperity III
this country. Trained engineers
were needed in the development of
our nations resources. American
capital poured into the countries of
Latin America lying to the south
of us. Along with the capital
went engineers to open mines. con-
struct railroads and bridges. and
build electric plants. The reports
of good wages furnished an induce
ment for an ever-increasing num-
aer Of students to enter the engi-
neering courses. This same ten
dency was seen in other colleges all
over our land. Quite number en-
tered these courses who had no
taste for engineering because they
thought it was the thing to do.
Sometimes it was due to the intlu-
ence Of parents or companions who
could see no advantage in the study
of Latin and Greek or any other
/, culture studies. Many Of these
either dropped ont before gradual
ing or were left stranded without a
"job.' But the majority of our
graduates in engineering have sue
cessfully filed responsible posi-,
tions in various parts of our OWL
and other lands and have received
high salaries. am always glad t'
oct good students into the college
let them take what course they will
and | have worked just as hard t.
induce young men to enter when
knew they intended to take an en-
gineering course as when | knew
they intended to take the classca
course.
Until quite recently the require
ments for admission to the Classlca
and Latin-Scientific courses wer
much hi CHER than those to an.
other course in our college. Ye