Debating Societies

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DEBATING SOCIETIES.—

Now that the cold weather is coming on and the evenings are getting longer, it would be well for young men who have these portions of the day at their disposal, to join some debating society or similar association for mutual improvement. They are highly beneficial in many respects, and have, when properly conducted, few drawbacks. We are glad to know that we have very many in our midst, and the more we have, the better. They keep young men who might be spending their evenings elsewhere, in exceptionable places and company, out of harm’s way—they encourage a spirit of inquiry and open up a hundred new sources of thought and information—they give a readiness in speaking, a confidence and a command of language, whose value cannot be over-estimated in a country like ours, where so much depends upon these acquisitions. Our greatest legal and professional men—shining lights in the great arena in which our brilliant minds revolve—owe a good portion of their success to the early habits of debate acquired in such societies as these. Let them, then, be increased and multiplied. In these columns, we shall always be glad to record their progress and success.