Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-09-15
OUR MOTHER TONGUE.
BY e. s. JOynes, Professor of Mod
ern Languages in Wander
bilt University, Nash
Vile, Tenn.

| in Clarksville, during the session
of the Teachers Institute was s.
justly admired by the large ant
cultivated audience who listened t.
it, that we were induced to reques
it for publication in order that thos
who heard it might enjoy mor'
leisurely contemplation of its beau
ties, and those who did not nigh
have their opportunity. Our appli
/ cation received a most kind anC
courteous answer, but unfortunately
the address in the form in which il
was here given had never been re-
duced to writing, and could not be
handed to the printer. The Profes-
sor, however, enclosed the following
paper printed four years ago when
he was at the Washington and Lee
University, Va, which was the
nucleus of the address we heard in
CIarksville. Many happy thought
and brilliant Illustration has since
crystallized around this nucleus,
which cannot be here presented ;
still, as it stands, our readers will
find in it a noble vindication of the
English language as worthy SUBJ
ject for critical study by all English
speaking people,
How beautiful is this expression
our Mother Tongue! How, in that
genuine Saxon which is the heart of
English, does it express the relation
that our language bears to ourselves? =?
Our mother tongue, not as the tongue
of our mother, though it is that in
deed, and for that the dearer; but
as itself our mother; the fountain
of the life of our own thought and
intellectual being; from which our
mind drew its earliest SuStenance, Of
ideas, images, and words in whose
accents we first learned the signifi-
canoe and sweet sympathy 0fsounds
and tones with which are assOcia-
ted the tenderest recollectiOns of
childhood, the dearest dreams of
youth, and the matureSt affections
and sympathieS of our soul. How
different is the sentiment-in langu-
age often of more value than the
by these words, as
compared with oar 9dtiUe language,
or any other phrase that the most re-
fined circumloeution could frame.
The very name is instinct with sim
plicity, with tenderness, with filial
love and duty. No slaVish tongue
could have owned such a phraSe-nO
inferior race could have understood
its meaning.
We are proud of our natural
mother. Whatever is excellent in
her we love to honor, and are never
weary OfrecaIling her virtues. Now,
our mother tongue has a like claim
upon our atfectiOnate VeneratiOn
and that claim is justified by every
quality that can confirm and en-
hance its natural right. By the con-
fesSiOn of the most eminent philOlO-
gists, the English language, in the
most capital qualities of language,
stands at the head of the languages
Of the modern world, and does not
yield in comparison with any that
has ever been spoken. In varied
cOndensation-in precis-
iOn-in manifold versatility of ex-
pression-in simplicity and clear
ness of structure-in truthfulneSS Of
richness of word
metaphor-in depth of sentiment
and in moral earnestness- rather
in all these qualities combined {f0r
all of these qualities, and more, do
reside in language) the English
language has no equal, however it
may be surpassed in single attri-
butes. The Greek may be superior
in richness and fleXihility; the Latin
in dignity and strength the Ger
man in depth the French in brilli-
ancy; the italian in music; the
Spanish in vocal swell and rythm:
but in the combination of the quail
tiles, and in its perfect adaptation
to all the demands of life or of liter
ature, in speech or in writing, no
language has ever equalled the Eng |
lish. And if it be asked, how this |
should be so, the answer is found in
the fact that, historically the English |
has borrowed from all these sources, |
and in reality combines the qualities !
of the different types of language to
which all these languages belong. |
1t represents most fully the concur
renee of the two great races that |
have given form to the thought and |
Of the world: the RO- |
manic, including indirectly also the |
Greek; and the TeutOnic. 1t is
thus akin on the one hand to the
I Il lNtA
of Southern Europe and
On the other hand, to the German
and its sister dialects of the Teu-
tonic and Scandinavian branches in
,he North and it represents in truth
5he highest qualities of both these
splendid types. Into its bosom, as
ntO the blessed isles of Britain, di-
vided from Continental Europe as if
hat they might insulate and con-
lense all that was best in its several
aces, have been poured successive
5ributes of wealth, which, like the
elements of the British Constitution
tself, have grown uncOnsciOusly
ntO harmonious union, and been
iOrmed at last into an homogeneous
structure, rich with the wisdom and
beauty Ol dll tie dStS.
The English language is thus not
)nly composite but homogeneous.
With life deep enough to survive
he shocks of successive cOnqueStS
md revolutions, its genius has been
trong en0ugh t9 assimilate all the
that it has received, with
,ut losing anything Of its own es-
ential character. Thus while no
is more complex than the
English in its elements, none pos
esSes a more essential unity. The
'iches that it has gathered from
very source, it has stamped with
IS own image and superscriptiOn.
It's grammatical features it has pre-
.erved essentially unmoditied, and
rom the very variety of its elements
t has eliminated only purer SIM
1licity, both in infleXiOn and in con-
tructiOn. Its words are gathered
rom every quarter of the globe, like
he materials Ofsome royal tapestry;
yet they are all woven into single
YOof, and are the monuments not of
iOreign handiwOrk, but of its own
and comprehensive
genius. From this cOmpositeness,
md at the same time this profound
unity and simplicity, the English
anguage derives its supreme pow
ers, 1t is adapted alike to every
ise, for ii has It's vocabulary apprO-
lriate to every occasion. Its terse
its hQmely Saxon,