Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-08-13

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plofaszor York's Grammar Class
Bio. GoRmAN Jfeel myself called
upon to say something to yonr numer-
Gus readers through the columns Of
your very interesting paper, respecting
PRO-, ork > mode Of teaching the En-
glish language not only because / feel
sitdre to aia, btt Because I believe the
community would be greatly benehfte1
by its general adoption.
Though Prof. York's STAY with u
has been short, the term of his lecture
consisting of some sixteen or seventeen
days, yet it has been sufficiently long
to convince us thoroughly of its eff
cheney, and superiority over all other
modes with which l am acquainted.
His mode of teaching is not only new,
but in every way decided improve
ment upon the old ones. The rapid
progress made by his pupils, does not
arise, as some have supposed, from
superficial mode of instruction; but on
the contrary, from its being thorough,
decidedly thorough. Its generally be-
heved that sentence must he parsed
in order to understand it; but Prof.
York has clearly shown that sentence
cannot be parsed until it is understood;
hence, before parsing a sentence at all,
1t is Systematically analyzed and syn
thesised-this leads to thorough un-
derstanding of the sentence in all It's
grammatical relations, connection and
dependencies, and thus enables the pu-
pil to parse it understandingly.
By appropriate and instructive dia-
grams and illustrations, the principles
of the science of language are impress
ed more indelibly upon the memory
than they otherwise could be; for it
must be apparent to every one who re-
fleets upon the subject, that as the
senses are the channels through which
knowledge is communicated to the mind,
that the intellectual improvement and
the impressions upon the memory must
be in proportion to the number ofsenses
exercised for as the author remarks in
his preface, "he who hears, feels, and
sees an object, must have clearer per-
ception of it than he who hears or sees
It only - -. -sr.s.
Punctuation and versiication, which
are SO much neglected in schools gen
orally, are thoroughly taught by Prof.
York. Punctuation is taught upon sci
entifc principles, as arising from the
constructive principles of the language.
But we cannot communicate an ade-
quate idea of this system of teaching
by description those who would IN
derstand it, must see and hear for them
selves. We feel no disposition to puff
or deal in extravaganza yet we feel
that we can scarcely recommend it too
strongly to all those who aspire to high
attainments in the English language :;
for was member of the class, and
though [ had devoted considerable time
and attention to the study of the En-
glish Grammar, yet feel fully war
ranted in saying that / have learned
more of the philosophy of the language
more of its practical utility during
the sixteen days of Prof. Y's. lectures
than l had ever acquired before Not
withstanding the class knew compare
lively little of the English language at
the commencement of the lectures, yet
they stood an excellent examination,
not only on those parts of English
Grammar which are generally taught,
but also on punctuation and versifea-
tion-an examination which was in eve
ry way honorable to themselves and
their instructor.
The audience was also delighted with
the exercises in Elocution. Prof. Y's
mode of teaching elocution by concert
defamation, is altogether superior tt
any thing of the kind l had ever wit
messed; I would, therefore, strongly
recommend all young men who aspire
to high attainments in defamation, tt
avail themselves of the opportunity o
attending his lectures.
An institution of learning has beer
recently organized in Alexander coun
ty, n. c., called York Collegiate Insti
tute, where this system of teaching
will be fully carried out, and wher
; Prof. Y. will be generally found.
T. B. FARRAR.