Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1869-07-24

words ftw, simple bat oomprehon
sive; enough however, Ia e0mmunl
cate lo lho wheel Uf thought ili
won,od rotary motion Thought, il
I lis processes aud combinations
would manufacture new ideas, ana
now ideas in turn would demand lh,
enlargement OF the vocabulary, ani
So on IA this natural, End II | mny
90 CYPRESS il, this philosophical WAY
language he's accumulated unliln0w
when "Wcbsler's Unabridged, en-
bracing nearly all the ideas Of both
continents, is one OF the largest vol
umes in our largest libraries, The
iifst generations cf men could no,
have stood on tip,toa and touched
the knee Of the present lingual eo'
lossus. To them, il would have
stood like that far famed statue, at
the harbor OF tho Rhodes, between
whose extended limbs the ship OF
Thought might sail into port for ages.
hut, not onlarging on this idea, lest
| administer an anodyno To your
already weary pcrcoptivcs, | wanted
10 say farther, that among all the
dead langudgcA, no one furnishes the
English student with so many lin
gual aids rs the Latin. IN lcXico.
graphic structure, there is u greater
homogcnity between il md the Eng.
lish. IL seems 10 be moro cognatc
to our own; and of consequence,
there is n more nuplcrous family OF
English words Of Roman parontagc,
than from any other buried speech.
When the Latin furnace is at white
heat, the liquid metal seems TO flow,
with the utmost facility, into Eng.
lish moulds. Perhaps the tune may
not be remote when tho Latin may
be the only unspokcn language that
shall take post in our college curric-
ulums. But We are TO study tho
dead languages, not only for tho en-
largement Of our vocabulary, but
that We INDY polish aid make it
moro discriminating. This propo-
sition, in itself, is worthy Of being
expanded into an entire address, but
we must be, Gorteht, tonight, with
little moro than baro mention Of
it. And, as an illustration Of our
purpose under this head, take tho
two English words, benevolent"
and "bcnoficcnt." They must be re-
garded as claiming parentage with
the two Latin words, ,."bcno-yolo"
and Beno-facio," the two words in
their order representing the two
ideas of wishing well' and "doing
WELL" Accordingly, tho discrimi-
mating use Of these two words, "bc-
ncvolcnL" and "bencficent" is more
readily acquired and acquired with
moro certainty and greater exact
ness by first understanding their Or
igin in in that grand old Roman
tongue. Hence all benevolent men
are not necessarily beneficent men,
and all boncficent men are not nee
essarily benevolent men. Some arc
benevolent that can't be bcneiiccnt,
and some again arc beneficent, for
reasons, Of gain, that are not benov-
olcnt, Since they possess not the vlr-
tues of heart that inspire bcnevo-
lence.
IF you extend only tears and sym
pathy to that MANNED beggar at
your door, you may be benevolent,
but if you clotho his naked limbs,
fill his extended basket with bread
and supply his depleted purse with
a penny for subsequent needs, you
aro bchefccnt, as well.
Take one moro example in the
words "apprehend'' and "compre-
hond"-tho former, from it's origin,
signifying only to take hold of, as
with the hand, the latter signifying
to take in, as in the embrace. Hence
we may apprehend a question we
do not comprehend, and when We
comprehenda question, we more than
apprchend it. Our apprehension of
subject mover comprehends our
comprehension of it; and our COM
prehension Of 4 subjSct always com
prchends our apprehension, Of it,
The returning son, fresh from col
lcge and virtue, may be regarded as
apprehendcd by tho mother when
she extends only a manipular greet
ing to him; but he is comprchended
when she throws her maternal arms
about him, cohThlsively presses him
TO her delirious heart, stuns his ears
with thousand sobbing welcomes,
and deluges his virtnous checks with
a shower of sparkling tears and rap
tuous kisses. All, "a word .Hlg
spoken, how good is it," and yet
many select them for use as thief,
would seize upon tho first
articles in q vast storc-house, where,
with care and leisure, he might have
selected from an endless variety
Thought may flash or feeling may
flow from the tongue or pen-all in
words; they may utter dispassionatc
reasoning or PiOW WIN ihPo'uOuo
emotion; carclessness may saunter
along with its shoes united, or neat
ness may 60 tripping observantly
with its face mashed and new gown
on to church or even distress may
xnecl down and hold up its import
mate hands and sob out its weeping
entreaty to you, all in ,rords. But
mark it, in order to this, q corrpre.
bensive and discriminating use OF
these delicate things must be acquir-
ID and it is confidently submitted,
hat the study of the dead languages,
particularly the Latin, may be made
auxiliary, largely auxiliary, 10 this
very desirable end.
Permit me, in leaving this head,
in few words, to refer to composition,
the art and practice of reproduc-
ing our ideas on papcr-a depart
ncnt of our school systems decided.
" too much neglected. 1t stands
Is an ineffacable conviction on my