On Extemporaneous Composition and Debating by the Class
In A Manual of the Art
of Prose Composition: For the Use of Colleges and Schools (1867), John
Mitchell Bonnell explained the value of Extemporaneous Composition; Debating by the Class; and proposed a list of
topics for debate.
This is an an extract from his book.
EXTEMPORANEOUS COMPOSITION.
§ 489. No course of instruction and discipline in the Art of
Prose Composition would be complete without a portion devoted to extemporaneous
composition. By this is meant the framing of thoughts on any given subject, and
the proper expression of them, either without any preparation, or with the mere
pre-arrangement of the plan, leaving the language to be suggested at the time
of the delivery. It was a recommendation made by no less an orator than Henry
Clay to young men seeking to qualify themselves as public speakers, to spend at
least fifteen minutes each day in uttering, in solitude, without any
premeditation, their thoughts upon a subject selected at random. This
recommendation he enforced by the assertion that to such a custom, maintained
for years, he himself owed, in no small degree, whatever of success he had
attained as a speaker. The student who is earnestly striving to gain excellence
in the use of his own languago will need no further urging to adopt such a
practice. The fruits of this secret culture will not be long in making their
appearance.
§ 490. As an additional method of securing the cultivation
of the art of ready and correct expression, it is recommended that a pair of
earnest students unite to afford mutual assistance in this exercise. Let them
retire from observation, and speak by turns, in speeches of five minutes each,
their thoughts on any assigned subject. It would be well for them to take some
question susceptible of debate, and choosing opposite sides, discuss its
merits. While one is speaking, let the other note, not merely his arguments,
but his language, his method, his gestures. The arguments he will reply to in
his own rejoinder; but let him reserve his criticisms on his comrade's
performance for kindly mention after the exercise is over. Such private drill
will admirably prepare the young performers for the more difficult arena of
DEBATING BY THE CLASS.
§ 491. If a class of youths pursuing the course prescribed
by this Manual have caught the spirit appropriate to the study, they will, long
before progressing thus far in the book, have perceived the propriety of
turning the class into a lyceum for the discussion of questions and other
literary performances. Such an expedient can not be too highly recommended. It
has received the indorsement of many eminent men. Lord Mansfield, Edmund Burke,
Charles James Fox, and John P. Curran, as well as the illustrious American
mentioned above, all have confessed themselves greatly indebted to such
associations for the skill they acquired in oratory and debate.
If, as is desirable for young men attending ordinary schools
or academies, the class debate is conducted by the teacher as the presiding
officer, he will of course establish such rules and arrangements as he deems
best. If the debating class is a number of students in the same high-school or
college, they may organize themselves into a lyceum, and adopt their own
constitution and by-laws. Admirable suggestions for such an association are to
be found in McElligott's American Debater,
to which parties interested are referred.
§ 492. It must be borne in mind that, although in extemporaneous
speaking considerable freedom is allowed, and, of beginners especially, no high
degree of accuracy or elegance of style should be exacted, yet it is certainly
one of the aims of extemporaneous debate to cultivate the art of speaking, not
only forcibly as to logical power, but with as strict attention to all the rules
of Style as the most fastidious ear would demand. Let every young speaker lay
down the rule—Never to allow himself in any
known violation of propriety in any respect. Let him never excuse himself
for any fault pointed out to him. Let him never defend his own utterances, when
usage or authority is clearly against him. Let him never cling to an
embellishment that others do not relish, although they can give no reasons for
it. He must aim to do in regard to style what can be done only in very few
things,—offend nobody. Withal, he
must never become discouraged with the inveteracy of habit, by the multiplicity
of rules, by the infinity of chances for error, or by the mortification of
failure.
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