What a vista these words open up! What a variety of
accomplishments demanded that can only be acquired, even by the
most gifted, by long study and patient practice! And since
learning to speak in public is like learning to swim, or to
skate, or to ride a bicycle, in this sense at least, that no
amount of previous theoretical instruction will enable one to
realise the initial difficulties or find out how to overcome them
without actual experiment, it would be arrant folly on the part
of the future priest to neglect this subject during his student
years.

These questions--Culture, English, and Preaching--should occupy a
foremost place in the curricula of our colleges. It is only by
training the student from the start, by fostering literary,
dramatic and debating societies where not alone the practical art
of speaking is developed, but the social amenities of good
society are practised, that the young priest can be equipped to
efficiently discharge the high office awaiting him, and so
reflect a lasting credit on the Church of God at home and abroad.



CHAPTER SEVENTH

THE DANGER OF THE HOUR. HOW TO MEET IT

[Side note: Statement of the case]

The printing press is one of the greatest forces of the modern
world. The multitude of publications sent forth on its wings each