Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/307

297 THE THIRD CLASS

TO be taught ſpeaking properly and gracefully; which is near a-kin to good reading, and naturally follows it in the ſtudies of youth. Let the ſcholars of this claſs begin with learning the elements of rhetoric from ſome ſhort ſyſtem, ſo as to be able to give an account of the moſt uſeful tropes and figures. Let all their bad habits of ſpeaking, all offences againſt good grammar, all corrupt or foreign accents, and all improper phraſes, be pointed out to them. Short ſpeeches from the Roman or other hiſtory, or from the parliamentary debates, might be got by heart, and delivered with the proper action, &c. Speeches and ſcenes in our beſt tragedies and Comedies (avoiding every thing that could injure the morals of youth) might likewiſe be got by rote, and the boys exerciſed in delivering or acting them; great care being taken to form their manner after the trueſt models.

For their farther improvement, and a little to vary their ſtudies, let them now begin to read hiſtory, after having got by heart a ſhort table of the principal epochas in chronology. They may begin with Rollin’s ancient and Roman hiſtories, and proceed at proper hours, as they go through the ſubſequent claſſes, with the beſt hiſtories of our own nation and colonies. Let emulation be excited among the boys, by giving, weekly, little prizes, or other ſmall encouragements to thoſe who are able to give the beſt account of what they have read, as to times, places, names of perſons, &c. This will make them read with attention, and imprint the hiſtory well in their memories.