Vicksburg weekly herald., 1870-02-05
TIE WEEKLY HERALD.
TUEsDAY. FEBRUARY ]. 10


Wnat b hhe use Oh Gtuuylng L0f'
eigR languages9 This Is a ques-
ton which Is frequently put and
variOusly answered. If We were
disposed to be facCtiousi we might
say that the question contains It's
own answer. The value of the
acquisition of q foreign language
consists in the use which we make
Of It. Sometimes It's advantages
are merely moral and intellectual.
And this is indeed a great deal,
because whatever contributes to
the morality or intelligence of
man tends also to expand his ideas
-ennoble his nature aud render
him q greater ornament of the
sphere in which he moves.
But besides these moral and In
tellectual benefits, there are others
Of q more profitable kind-be-
cause more practical. Cultiva.
ton is said to keep pace with
the march of minl-but the march
Ofmind depends on the extent of
intercourse of ideas acting and
reacting upon one another, and
the extent of the interchange of
ideas in its turn depends on the
facilities Of translation from one
language to another. If such trans.
lation were not possible, then we
would have the unhappy spectacle
Of seeing each natiOncircumscribed
within the limits of its own power
ofspeech, communicating no ideas,
receiving none, standing in wrupt
isolation and intellectual stagnan.
cy. Whoever has paid any, even
the slightest attention to history
cannot fail to have observed that
there is no event Of any impor.
tance that has occurred involving
any great principle, at any time
however remote, or in any coun-
try, however obscure, that has
not produced its effect on every
other organized society Of men
We live in the light Of the past,
and that light comes TO us with
increasing brightness, as time
rolls on bearning with it the ex-
perience Of other times, and other
nations, and by far the major part
of that experience comes to us
through the medium of other
languages. Every invention that
is made, every new idea that
is evolved, is by means of the ia.
cility of Interpretation from one
language TO another, speedily
made known in every other Ian.
guage, and thus becomes the COM
mon property of all adding p
the general stock of knowledge,
and increasing the general en-.
lightenment Of the human race.
The knowledge Of foreign Ian
guages enables the man Of sci
ence or of art to profit by the
sagacity and appliances of hi:
lgothors in other countries-thC
merchant aud the tourist to trade
and travel in other climes with as
much facility as at homeland il
is by that same knowledge that
the statesman, the orator, and the
poet may draw lessons of wisdom
and study the arts Of .el0Quenct
and Of song at those pure fonn
tains whence they were evoked BY
the wand Of genius.
Men are, in general, influenced
either by their interests or thciI
tastes. Thus We lud that ever
barbarous nations, who, in matters
of literature, cannot he said to havo
acquired taste, have, at least
knowledge OF the languages 0
their neighhors. And amoni
civilized nations, the cultivation
of other languages is considered
rs n mark Of growing, if not o
perlect refinement The Romans
in the palmicst days Of their eoun
uy's literature, studied AMI spok
the Greek language. Nay, eve
long after the great monuments o
Grecian art had graoed the victor
triumph in the imperial city, III
Roman youth we're attracted t
Athens, when nothing Of its Nc
tionalily remained but its memo
RIGS and its name, as if the voice
of the great men who h'd loul
iahed there. still fingered ar0an