Making of an Oration

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. It has been thought well not to introduce many notes on the speeches included, but to leave the student free to study out for himself the meaning of any expressions that are not perfectly clear at the first reading. The wide-awake teacher and the interested student will need little help of this kind. One great objection to many editions of masterpieces published for school use is found in the fact that they are so overloaded with notes as to make the mastery of the notes seem more impor tant than the mastery of the literature itself. If the student is led to make his own notes, he will gain the necessary information, and, what is far better, he will get something of the inspiration coming from the study of real literature. The oration, then, becomes vital to him, and quickens his own powers to similar creative effort.