The article which appears this morning concerning an effort at Yale to popularize debating by laying stress upon the social side of meetings for debate is suggestive.

An essential process in the development of a body of competent speakers is, of course, regular training by means of frequent practice debates. The difficulty is to induce enough men to submit to this methodical work with regularity. To those in whom ambition or enthusiasm for debate is strong, and further inducement is unnecessary. It would be of unquestionable advantage, however, to find some means of making the debates attractive enough to insure the attendance of those whose support is but luke-warm. One of the most discouraging features of the system as it now exists, is the difficulty of obtaining an audience.

Numerous examples might be cited of college organizations whose serious purpose has been much aided by the pleasant social features of their meetings. Little effort has been made to strengthen debating in this way, and we think that an innovation in the line of the experiment which Yale is reported to have begun, might be of practical value in Cambridge. The object should be, not so much to arrange dinners or other entertainments on special occasions, as to brighten up the regular meetings.