Subjects for Debating Clubs 137 



county secretary, should be present to preside over 

 the event, inducing the boys to form a baseball 

 club, or a basketball team ; or at least to arrange 

 for some event in which they can all participate, 

 although that may be as simple a thing as swim- 

 ming or jumping. Introduce at once the thought of 

 practice and the development of skill, holding out 

 the plan of a county organization and a county 

 field meet in the future, which all may attend and 

 in which the ablest shall have promise of a con- 

 spicuous part. 



2. Debating and literary clubs. There is always 

 the possibility of a literary society, provided the thing 

 be carefully instituted. The secret of successful 

 debates among persons of any class is to find a 

 "burning" question. So, avoid such matters as 

 Tariff Reform and the World Peace Movement 

 and come right down home to some perplexing 

 problem in the lives of the boys of the club. Some- 

 thing about their work, their lack of recreation, 

 their chances against those of city boys, and so on, 

 will arouse interest and bring out rough debating 

 material. Find latent talent of other sorts in the 

 club. Some boy can sing ; perhaps another can play 

 a musical instrument; still another one may be a 

 natural-born storyteller ; a fourth may be an expert 

 acrobat and tree climber ; a fifth a shrewd hunter or 

 trapper of wild animals. In this way, nearly every 

 boy can be led to take part in a general program. 



