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Show DEBATING. During the? winter months "De- bating Spc;eties" or Civil Govern ment Classes" are becoming quite popular in San Pete in spite of opposition raised by many. But : why ield improvement societies meet disapproval? may be asked, g The modest would answer thip by ' ' tip. another query. "Do such organ-iiatioua organ-iiatioua tend to improvement? As .a matter pf ppinion- Yes, verily so, when carried on judicious!- for following reasons: Debating clubs are generally organized or-ganized for discussing whether certain cer-tain principals art right or wrong each side, affrmative and negative, bringing all the arguments within reach to prove its the better. l?y .co doing, debating excites vigorous thinking, ist in choosing and analyzing ana-lyzing the subject, and in selecting ,the strongest points to uphold argument, argu-ment, 3rd in coining thought to establish es-tablish firmly the, points. But in order to make his argumects more forcible, the debater must fipd out -jlhe opinions of great authors for or jtgainst the subject in hand. This requires re-quires a great deal of research and study, hence it adds to his stock of knowledge by ,the wide reading it .cqnipels. In any vocation a person "learns to do by doing." Debating gives him practice in defending principle, princi-ple, so should necessity ever require 'it, he could better defend the cause ' 'he has espoused. While preparing for the debate he finds there are unanswerable arguments n either side, which fact teaches hipa ,to tolerate the abusive languaje pf opponents and ,heed the rights of pthers. Doing so not only givei modesty a "shine" but .cultivates that best of talents, self- control, for full well .does the experienced ex-perienced know that "flying into a passion" would only stimulate the opponent while his own arguments .would lose their force. To make a - modest estimate of his own abilities when haee the cunning and shrewdness shrewd-ness of Others, naturally follows. During the prgjjiess of the contest con-test the mind is iatensly stimulated, ist by opposition furnished as in .opposite truly o we ' fully realize ,he nature of things, 2nd by excite montinthe hop of victory, for as the contest is great, is the victory glorious; 3rd by careful watch for errors, which last tends to sharpen tthe "wits" and cultivate the con- I ,centration of thought. ! Eveiy well organized debating club has it adopted "by laws" also an officer in whom Is vested executive exe-cutive power to punish any refraction: refract-ion: eonssouentlv each member is .more than duty-bound, to treat his .opponents with courtesy and respect: re-spect: he thereby learns to be civil and attentive even to enemies. His wrong opinions are corrected by the trite arguments of others and ,the narrowness of his views is expanded ex-panded when his errors are logically pointed out, Jji public speaking a person will always use A bfest language he can coalman d and it is very important for the debater to logically arrange his sentences so that each point is brought to bear,' on the others. Every now and then a new word is picked up, which when practical is r nsed. Thus by practicing and hearing others, his vocabulary is .strengthened, hts reasoning faculties facult-ies art developed, his oratorical ; talents given full sway, and while ; gaining a knowledge of "Parliment-. "Parliment-. ary usage" he is all the time preparing prepar-ing himself for fu:ure usefulness. Wilderness. |