The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-06-24

| DooHb.
WORDS THEIR Use AND ABUSE. BY vii
| liam Mathews, LII. d., author of Getting
on IN the World" 1.-THE Great Conversers
and Other Essays" SC. Chicago: S. c.
Griggs g. Co Ottawa: Osman s Hape.
man. Price $500.
The thoughtess world is apt to speak light
| ly of words, and In the mouth of the thought.
less they are little better than airy nothings
but IN the light Of synthetic truth they are
the incarnation of. thought-the embodiment
of intelligence and reason. 1t Is even moot.
ed question whether there can be such a
thing as connected thought without words.
True, there are evidences that the dog thinks
and that the horse and other so-calied in
telligent' animals perform mental operations
that almost amount to ratiocination, though
they have no words. But how do you know
that? Is there no ineligible language in
the bark, or growl, or whine, or frskIng anu
gladstone capering of the dog, or the whn-
ny or kick of horse? The deaf and dumb
have no articulate speech, yet they think, not
by associations of sound, but Of touch, using
combinations of fingers, or gestures of the
hand or limbs, or contortlons of the counte
nance as the symbol of their thoughts, and
may not intelligent" brutes be able, within
their limited range of thought, to frame
words IN the same way? But to the general
question, can men think without words, trav.
oilers have often made the remark, that when
in foreign countries, speaking continuously
and hearing Only language foreign to their
own, they soon catch themselves thinking in
that language proving that it is by words
that the operation of thought and ratlocina.
ton is alone conducted.
Words are thus ideas, and without words
1t would be as impossible to rear mental
structure as ii would be to erect a building
without solid material. In the book under
review, Prof Mathews not only shows that
words are at the bottom of all thought, but
that they control thought in all its shades and
They are not only the media Of
thought from one to another,
but by their subtle force give birth to new
thoughts Deep and subtle thinkers are mem
who have deep and subtle mastery of words i
the frivolous only know frivolous words. Al
mans moral character is shaped by the words
he uses National character is exhibited in
language. The Arab shows his fatalism by
saying to everything If God wills it," The.
posing Frenchman by his How do you car
ry YOURSELF the active, practical American
by his How do you do?" and so on.
Having demonstrated their importance,
Prot. Mathews addresses himself to The maiu
subject IN hand, he use and abuse of words.
He treats the subject with earnesness and
even eloquencc, and while at times his en-.
thusiasm impels him 10 exaggeration, in
the main his hints how to avoid vulgarism
In language, which only betray vulgarism of
thought, and how TO acquire refinement and
elegance of expression, with the necessary en-
nobling reflex action on mind and character,
are worthy of careful study and the highest
THE MYTH OF STONE lDoL- A Love Legend
of Dakota. BY VIM. +. Jones. A. NJ, late
president of the Northwestern Female Col
lege at Evanston, Ill. Chicago: :. C. Grigcs
Il Co. Ottawa: osman a IIapeman.
This book wa. received several month ago,
but mislaid, which must account for no al.
tention having been paid 10 1t sooner.
On the upper Missouri river, among other
strange rocky formations, is one resemblin g
two human figures, male and female, EN-
powered in lovely spot among trees. Indian