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ADDRESS OF MR. F. M. LAW, JR., BEFORE THE AUSTIN
LITERARY SOCIETY.
Mr. President and Young Men of the
Literary Societies:
After an absence of five years it is a
pleasure, I can assure you, to have the
opportunity of addressing you in this
old familiar hall in the capacity of a
literary society.
The occasion carries me back to other
days, when other faces greeted me and
other voices filled the hall,—this same
old hall (how friendly it seems)-—the
scene of many interesting and delightful
incidents in which I was allowed to play
a minor part. And if there was aught
lacking in your welcome to make me feel
perfectly at home, the benign countenance
of that grand old man that I learned to
love like a father (Governor Ross) look
ing down upon mCj would supply the
need.
You will allow me to state at the out
set of this informal address that what I
have to say will be as extremely practi
cal and suggestive as I can make it.
There will be no attempt at oratory or
rhetoric, and your patience will not be
taxed by a lengthy discourse.
1 have been sorry to learn that interest
in the society has somewhat lagged for
the past few years. This ought not to be,
and to-night, at the opening of a new ses
sion, I want to invoke the aid and sym
pathy of the new men in putting the two
societies back on the high plane of excel
lence attained in the past. There is only
one way for you to help, and that is to
join and determine in your own mind to
work and help with all your strength.
Do this, and I will try to prove to you
that your reward will be great. It is
my purpose to speak briefly of some of
the accruing benefits, and I trust that
my remarks will have aught in them to
cheer and encourage the faithful few
among the old students who have strug
gled bravely along in the face of many
difficulties. These, then, are some of the
benefits you will derive from active mem
bership in a literary society.
First. It will give you splendid
training in English, and I want to say
right here (it having been granted that
the school of English is not as prominent
or extended in an A. and M. college as
it would be in a university) that a
model literary society is as good a school
of English as any one could wish. The
training in writing essays, making ora
tions, and preparing debates is invalu
able, and gives one that command of the
queen’s English that he might otherwise
find it impossible to acquire.
Second. It affords the student a fine
field to cultivate and bring out his ora
torical powers. Many a young man has
inherent the gift of oratory, and only
such a training school is needed to make
him proficient.
Third. It affords fine training for the
mind by means of debate. It develops
the argumentative and logical qualities
of the mind.