Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-11-20
GautatiaMa. o,nlMa,u.
For tae Educational colnmn.l


/ Probably the irst Thought occurring
to the mind OF Iiaost persons who glance
at the heading of this Educational col
umn will be, Gnat Education is a very
old topic tor newspaper discu9Sion.-
True, in one sense; my friend. FOR, IL
10y .sold" you mean the time 1T has de,
.nanded the attention OF men it is the
oldest CT subjects. But if by that term
you designate 1t ;is g worn out theme,
lready, like all Old coat, To be laid aside
for something new, then we must join
issue and claim thai Education is the
saeacest of ali subjects. 10 no individual
i'll society, ought the proper develop
rm6nt and training OF The young 10 De
regarded otherwise than dts matter OI
paramont Importance.
They Indulge in no "giitteriIis gen
erality," VINO claim that our common
schools are the safeguard Of republican
Institutions. This thought appeals Il
our patriotism. But when We regard
the effects, upon the Child himself, Of 4
| Well-infOcIned, cultured mind, II seHti-
ment is aroused which is broader than
atriotism--huuanity that love Of ouI
kind without which we are sounding
brass and tinkling cymbais.
l. ButI have no purpose at this time
to write all essay upon this topic, bul
isimply to enrol, myself as one, .eady tC
l'spend some time and labor i'll /. depart
ment devoted 10 it, and to urge others
especially teachers, to lend hand foi
/ mutual go0G.
l have thought that a series OF short
papers on language would be in place
aud might be OF some profit to my
younger cO-WOrker5 i'll the ScnOOirOOm
Won Gunlisoldt has SaiI /: = We muSi
exclude everyt hinS from the definition
OF language, bat actual speaking. Yht
essence of language lies in the living.
utterance, in that which does not SUI
/ fer itselfto be apprehended III the sun
dered elements of written words. 1t is
only by the spoken word that the
speak er breathes his own life into the
souls of, his hearers" Now this is q
clear statement of a very important
truth; yet the teacher realizes the other
truth. that most of what he has to deal
with and teach as Language, consists
of marks or characters addressed to the
eye. He knows that the true power OF
a word is in its sound; attended by va
rious infections, elnpiaseS, expressions
| of felture, which are the real nerve and
muscle of the Word-the true ''sign OF
the idea" Still his business is largely
with the dry bones or written marks.
Hence we must give a liberal recogni-
ton to the fact that he is teaching and
and his pupils are learning two Ian
grages;-one spoken, made up OF
sounds and addressed to the ear--cer-
tain combinations of which sounds
being a kind of acoustic wire upon
which an idea may cross from the
brain of the speaker to that OF the pr
son spoken to; the other, written, made
up of signs or characters which have
come in some mysterious way, to stand
for the sound, which stands for the
idea.
Whether it be possible for the second
of these to be the exact equivalent OF
the first, cannot say. But it is not at
ell probable that it is the case with any
written language in existence. Surely
it is far from being true Of our mother
tongue--the English. When we try to
make them tdLLy we find tWenty-six
written letters to symbolic from forty
tofifty sounds. Hence some must do
extra duty, as in the case of the hard
worked letter q. But strange as it may
seem, we find also, that some sounds
have several different 6OdiRs. These
things, with the added trouble that
many signs meet the eye which stand
for nothing to the ear, give the teacher
an abundant opportunity for the use of
all his skill and patience in giving in
struction in branches miscalled easy,
namely, Reading and Spelling. To
the latter, we shall give some attention
next week. Il.