The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-09-06


. element in our language, which til
study of Latin had already made ia
s.. miliar. y. ....,
Mr.. ,Benet was delighted with tn,
remarks Of the distinguished gentle
man. That he found it necessary t,
train the ear in. teaching Latin, ant
did 80 by reading paragraph an,
making tho GLASS take it down frou
1 his lips upon thoir states, and then ex
change states for correction. Mr.. B
=. also related from personal knowledge
several amusing anecdotes upon pre-
tentiouB Foreigners undertaking t
teach other languages.
Mr.. Stuart begged permission tc
read from the same remarkably able
essay ho had previously quoted "a,
page 362 of the Sept. number 1870 OF
tho Ed. Jour. Vu.,) tho following in.
structive extract
"The question as to the place, which
one or more Of the modern Europoan
languages should occupy in our school
ourriculum, has not been so definitively
settled MS tho fact that they must be
admitted. No education without
them, is at present deemed worthy to
be called complete or liberal--no one
can be esteemed we'll instructed
person who is not familiar with at
least one of these languages, so as to
have ready and profitable access to
its literature. This settled, the next
question that meets'us is, how many
of theso languages can consistently
with the claims Of other subjects be
admitted into our scheme Of general
study. The deliberate conclusion of
your committee upon this point is,
that there is room for but one.
Whether that shall be Frnech or Cor
man, for these are tue clai nants that
commended themselves most highly
to our favor, we hardly feel prepared
to pronounce upon. The prestige of
the Trench IN our schools, its almost
absolute necessity for higher scientific
study, and its having become tho
common speech of polite society on
the continent, would incline US In
it's fator.-while the growing rpprecia-
tion Of German among all cultivated
people, its being actually the only Ian.
guage spoken by many citizens Of this
Safe and country, and its consequent
pratical utility in various professions,
its" kinship to our own tongue, and
the consequent light and interest it
throws upon the study of English, its
more philosophic structure, its litera-
ture, unsurpassed in modern times,
and now the exponent of tho most ad.
vanccd thought of the present century,
all seen to demand that its claims be
postponed to no other. Your committee
have up to this time uttered no un.
certain sound, and, op,inred that
the Reports presented to til, b ,hy
are useful in propo. tim Us they are
pointed and definite, they beg leave
with due dif1ideuce and becoming
modesty, holding their Judgment
somewhat in abeyance for more au-
thoritatiye announcement, to give
their voice in favor of the tongue of
Goethe and Schiller.
cat the last meeting of this associa.
tion, one ofits members, whoadorns by
hi, learning and scholarship the chair
Of Modern Languages in one of our
most influential colleges, read paper
which ended by propouuding the
three following questions:
81. The place which the modern
languages should hold in our schools
and colleges.
"2. The object with which they
should be taught and studied there.
"3. The method Of instruction, and
character of text books to the preferr-
cd.
''Thesc questions, which your Com.
mittee could have wished that instead
Of simply proposing, the same gentle
man might have answered by the
light of his superior wisdom and ex-
perience, are so intimately connected
that ono involves the others. 1t
would seem that the second in order
logically the first for if the object
for which they arc taught and studied
be clearly ascertained, the answers to
the others fo low, as q natural Sc
quence. Accordingly, to this ques-
tion as far as it concerns secondary
instruction, We now address our
selves. ...,'
"Tho usual notion seems to bo that
they are to be taught for speaking
purposes--a notion which Is evidento
" the fruit Of what may bo called tho
commercial theory Of education, as
opposed to the liberal. Ifthis be the
proper view, then it's attainment, &C.
oording to any possible school sys
tenn which wo may devise, is utterly
bopeless--the end Is simply unattain
able, except for those parents wht
have means sufficient and deem itwortl
the sacrifice to send their children
abroad to reside at the schools or il
the society ofthose countries, of which
they desire thom to acquire the Ian
guage. And therefore, we find thi
ks1o ,oA. n y -.