Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-07-05
The MASTERY Of one Language.

The victory of education, so far as
words bring information, is TO be
gained not In the study of many
languages, but in the mastery Of one.
The soul casts but one shadow oft
self. 1t has but one image of its
deeds and feelings and thoughts.
The English language, the German
language, the French language, are
each the picture Of one thing, man;
and though we may know a hundred
names for "friendship," they all in
dicate one and the same sentiment;
a hundred names for Slavery"
we have learned IN all these
only one fact. Hence the chief as
piration of each student should be
to master some enc of these three
great languages in which the worlds
past is all treasured up, without
loss of thing or thought. II other
languages are studied, il should be
that additional light may be shed
upon the single one in which We are
to live, move, and have our being.
Many a beautiful girl comes from
our seminaries able to speak the
word ''friend," In French, Italian,
Spanish and English; but the mean
ing of the word friend as revealed
from the days Of Christ down TO the
bosom of her own mother, has es-
capped her inquiry. Coming from
the classical college, we can express
the word "liberty" in Greek and
Latin and Sancrit; butwe are stran-
gers to all that import which the hu-
man race has seen in the term, re-
/ gardless of vowels and cOnsonants.
Whether the words terminate in
"tGs" with the Latins, or "t0dp with
the Spanish, is an investigation OF
small import compared with the
deep study of the idea in the suffer-
ing and longings Of the human race.
The deepest study of the mind seek
ing development can never be found
in the acquisition of many tongues,
but of many ideas with the same
tongue. To express one thought IN
ten languages is not so desirable as
in some one language TO express ten
thoughts. To possess a knowledge
OF many forms of speech from Greek
TO the French, is only TO have gal
lery all the portraits of which are
of one hero or Madonna. We ask
you if you have a portrait Of Caesar
and Marcus Aurelius, and Pliney the
younger and elder, and your answer
is, "NO; but l have five portraits OF
Socrates" an interesting fact, but
not the best form Of fact. Ten
tongues are ten photographs Of the
same face. The highest education
will always be found in dcvel oping
the resources of some one Of the
three vast instruments of the spirit,
English, French, German. They
may be all studied, but only that the
one into which the soul happens TO
have been born may reveal all its
treasures, and become a medium Of
the mind in relation TO itself and to
its fellow-men, an atmosphere in
which the soil can fly 10 and fro TO
all the accessible heights and depths
of its vast world. lnasmuch as the
nineteenth century surpasses all be-
fore IL, inasmuch as language must
be a faithful picture Of the soul, IL
follows that the English and Ger
man and French tongues are each
more expressive, as TO quality and
quantity, than the tongues that lay
ike a beautiful vesture upon Athens
and Rome. Each one of these mod
ern tongues includes Greece, and
then reaches beyond. The soul hav-
ing grown larger, larger is the shad-
ow il casts, larger is the drapery that
enwraps ii. Each language possess
es a few individual traits; but look
into the mighty English alone, IL
is the record and picture OF human
ity up TO this hour, in all sjoy and
sorrow, strength and beauty
| Lakeside MONTHLY.