The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-04-29
]. SYFAN WINNER
In the State OratOrical Contest Held
ut Rock Hill on Friday Evening"
Represented Wofford College. Frank
Broyles, Representing College of
Charleston, Second. Ralph's Subject
Was NEGLECTED Opportunities"

1hO RloAJ 1ilOhuo VI 1eolph oylou
and Of his parents, Mr.. and Mrs. G. W
Syfan, will be delighted to know that
he won first honor at the State Ora.
torical contest held in Rock Hill Fri
day night. "You can't beat an Able
vile man" is again proven. The State
of Saturday had the following a.
count of the contest: e..
Rock Hill, April 24-Speaking OF
Neglected Opportunity" R. J. syfan
representing Wofford college, was
awarded first honor in the State ora
torical contest held in the auditorium
Of Winthrop college here tonight
Second place went to Frank Eugene
Broyles of the College of Charleston
Mr.. Broyles' subject was, "a Shadow
Third place was awarded to Howard
D. Smith of the Presbyterian College
of South Carolina who spoke of, "And
Thou Mayest Add Thereto" 3.
The winner is a native Of Able
Vile. Mr.. Broyles comes from An
derson and Mr.. Smith resides at
Yorkville.
The judges were: J. E. Boggs, An
derson; the Rev. Howard Lee Jones,
Charleston; J. M. Spears, Darlington;
the Rev. W. T. Sloan, Greenville; J.
J. Lawton, Hartsville.
A. G.. Dick Of the College of Char
lesion is the new president Of the as
sociation. A change has been made
in the method Of electing officers.
Heretofore there have been five Of
ficers and an executive committee OF
nine, consisting Of a representative OF
each college. Next year there will be
nine executive committeeman and the
five Offices will be filled from the list
"Neglected Opportunity"
Neglected Opportunity" was the
subject OF R. J. Syfan of Wofford
college. .,. g. =,
Taking into consideration the
money, the time and work that we
have put into them our - common
schools are failure" is a statement
made by Charles w. Elliott. Is this
statement true and If 80 why :. ::
I'VE are not reading public, and
the little time that we do spend = in
reading Is usually spent in reading
books that are either morally debas-
ing or mentally debilitatingl AS the
twig is bent the tree is inclined. If
the democratic mass does not care
for the best in literature the blame
must be laid at the door Of our COM
mon schools. The habit Of reading
and taste for good reading are almost
invariably formed between the ages
of eight and fourteen. Many of our
common schools are fitted up with
every modern convenience when they
haven't single book for the chill
dren to read.
Reading Is necessary to secure, a
high type of citizenship. A mans
character must be developed from
within, and this development is or
dinarily secured in two ways; reac-
ton upon environment and reaction
upon ideas. AS the environment OF
the mass of our people is not condu-
Give to the development Of high char
acter they must reach above their
plane and get ideas and ideals from
books. =.
"Our schools In teaching the chill
dren how to read and not to read and
what to read are placing an edged
tool in the hands Of an educational
infant and making no effort to teach
that infant how to use 1t. You cant
put a stop to the reading Of bad lit
erature by any method Of censorship
Let US try not cure but preventive
Let us put more emphasis on good
reading and good libraries in ou1
common schools. Let US teach the
children not only how to read but tc
read and what to read"
I'M +o dota houca In evarv resnect which