CLASS IN LANGUAGE
"A" MIDDLE RHETORICAL
EVENING PRAYER SERVICE
A Model Southern Farm
"It is this noble agriculture which feeds the human race and all the humbler orders of animated nature dependent on man."
—Speech by Edward Everett
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Exercises like the foregoing not only assist the Industrial Department in its work with the pupil, but offer admirable Academic training in English and in practical elocution. Besides the discussion relative to industrial pursuits, the pupils consider questions important to them as future citizens and men of business. This phase of the English work trains the pupil to rigorous methods of reasoning, and to clearness and forcefulness in public discourse.
Literature in the preparatory classes is taught under the head of reading. The physical requisites to effective expression receive due attention, but great stress is laid upon reading as a means by which the mind is furnished with knowledge. Literature is taught by reading and language teachers, the former dealing with the subject-matter for literary values, the latter having an eye to construction. The course is of twofold importance; contact with finished style gives to the pupil a sense of what is most fitting and beautiful in expression, thus proving an invaluable aid to his own oral and written diction. The work of the Senior class in English literature and composition aims to develop in the pupil power to think clearly and logically, and ability to appreciate thought expressed by others; to teach clearness and correctness of expression together with facility and power in the use of language; to produce an appreciation of good books by contact with classic authors; and to give, by an outline study of the history of English literature, a proper setting for the authors read. To supplement the class-room work in literature, a course in home reading has been arranged. It is the aim of the division of English to make the home reading as much like play as possible, a relaxation from sterner requirements of the curriculum, an occupation for idle hours. By persuading the most stupid pupil to read books which appeal to him, the teacher can lead him gradually to more solid literature.
