Elocution is no longer a major sport in , U. S. schools, but it is still taught and practiced. Teachers still divide up the subject into various branches: viz., recital of poems, original oration, debate, the extemporaneous speech. The latter is always regarded as the most sporting. A boy is handed a slip of paper on which a subject is written such as "Capital Punishment."* For five minutes he is permitted to twitch nervously in his seat while his undernourished brain works feverishly to synthesize all that he has read, been told, suspected about the matter. A bell rings....
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