A very successful session of the Literary and Debating Society was brough close om Wednesday night by taining literary and musical eve strongest evidence of the attra the programme was afforded by the large dience which braved the heavy down of rain which came on just before the hour for starting. The entertainment took place in the fine Masonic Hull, which was tastefully decorated, and the meagre attendance lat the commencement offered gloomy prospect of success, But Mr. Douglas Thotnas began th" programme with an organ recital, which was 50 much enjoyed that it was extended until half-past nine, when the attendance had grown to satisfactory numbers.
Mr. Byron Brenan, H.B.M.'s Consul-General, then delivered a short address. He said—We have reached the closing number of the syllabus for the session, a session which Thope has been as successful "as: its predecessors. I do not know whether this would be admitted by our indefatigable' Hun. Secretary, through whose energy and zeal it is~ that each fortnightly evening has brought forth something of interest to us. It may. be that' the session has -not satisfied -his aspirations; perhaps he would have ré- joined if he' could have succeeded in discovering and introducing to.us a Den: os-thenes or a Cicero. For myself I am disposed to think that ina Suciety like ours uniform average of mediocrity. throughout the members suits us better than exceptional excellence on the part of two or' three. And I say this because our Society exists n-t merely in order that the many in the body of the hall may derive intellectual pleasure from listening to the gifted few on the platform, nor that their mental nourishment "may be provided through the efforts of others. It exists pritiarily for the purpose of giving. to one and all the opportunity of exercising the mental faculties which in a greater or. less degree we all' possess. - Now the Appearance on the scene of one. or. two Demosthenes or Ciceros would have the effect. of discouraging the less: generously eftlowed from emerging from their bashful seclusion; and to that extent one of tle objects of our Society would be defeated. Tu the arena of dialectics, as also in the posilisie ring, every man is pleased to ave a foeman worthy of his steel; but he does: not.want "to be.. badly. punished, especially when a number. of. his friends are looking on, In a game of skill or in a conflict of arms Where each combatant feels that he is evenly matched, or that the odds are not too much against him, every, man will put forward his best endeavour, and the very effort will imbat in the presence of Titans, the ordinary rove all the organs brought into play
man will retire and take up the coni-fortable position of an interested spectator. In this act of retirement there lurks a danger, for itis incumbent on us. to seek opportunities for training our reasoning powers, and to beware of the risk of allowing others to relieve us of our functions. It stern law of nature that an unused gradually becomes atrophied, -and finally having ceased to be of any use, the organ itself disappears. Fishes in caverns which the light of day never penetrates have, in the course of generations, lost the organ of sight; and in the vegetable kingdom plants that-are not above quartering themselves on others, and depending upon them for their food' have in the course of years become so helpless and degraded that they would dis if left to themselves to make honest, livelihood out of the ground. I venture to repeat what I said at our opening meeting, that the members of our Society should resolve to: become active working members. A man who merely listens to others, and accepts all they say as good, wholesome food; who lets his opinions be entirely moulded out of the thoughts of his friends, is pt to find.that his, mental powers los" their vigour and that his intellectual organs become shrunk.
should try to form our own independent opinions, and the check against a loose mo-thod of mental. reasoning is to submit our conclusions to the criticism of others. Recently, Lord Rosebery in the course of a speech expressed the opinion that the ideal newspaper would be " paper replot with facts and news, but divested 0 leading articles; in other words he me to say that we must not be whol", "ant pendent on others for our views e,, 2¥, 38 events. It must be a matter ("passing observation that whenever aa.thins hart ens, of national in ortuee mee of local interest, ©,, portance of mero~ y of) "yo instinctively tuan fogs, newspspsr y see what the editorial own beget) "organs are relieved of the eras 2 outfit, In this way our exercise wb'.ch is' essential to keep them in good "order, and develop them into Aisle state of efticoney. We run the "isk of intellectually becoming mere "Varuses p 4 up what we can et the rich man's table. I must not stultify myself by letting it appear that I recommend. everybody to stay at hom" and do his own thinking in solitude. Far from this, T would suggest that each member should as often as the opportunity offers go through 'a little mental gymnastics, with that restraint on careless or slovenly performance which is provided by the know. ledge that we are being keenly criticised. the place of the piano duet. by Messrs. Ryde and A. J. H. Moule, which should have opened the programme, Mr. H.. Ninyy played an efecto polka, and then Mr. J.C. Johnston sang with great success: "The Two Grenadiers." Mr. F. P. Pratt, who is undoubtedly an acquisition toShanghai's musical ranks, rendered " couple' of pieces on the violin. The next. item on the programme, a vocal duet by Mesdames Timm. and Schiff, was 6o much appreciate ed that the audience would insist on hearing more, and they gave a no less enjoyable encore. The second part of the programme was introduced by Mir. Vinay on the piano. Miss Wileockson cxme next. with Scott Gatty's chatining song, ' Winter," which was so cleverly rendered that an. encore was insisted'on, or rather we should say, the audience's wish was acceded to wi the - utnivst good-nature. - Considerin; the.state of the, weather the piece -whicl
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.