THE departure from the old order of conducting the speaking for the Boylston Prizes should not fail to secure a larger attendance at those exercises than ever before. It seems that there is to be a preliminary trial, and only those who come up to a required standard of excellence will be allowed to speak for the prizes. The number of speakers will thus be diminished at least one quarter from that of previous years; there will be this year, at the most, only thirty. It has always been a matter of regret that more have not thought it worth their while to come to these exercises; comparisons have been made between the attendance at the public speaking in the Boston Latin School and at the speaking for the Boylston Prizes, much to the credit of the former. Now that so few are to speak compared with former years, and those few are to be selected by reason of their excellence, none can plead the length and dulness of the exercises as an excuse for staying away.