The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-12-21

Philadelphia CPA) Press
A wise and pleasantplan was Inaugural.
ed at the,reeert dinner. Of Lafayette Col
lese Alumni In this city. The proposition
was made, and was received with the
heartiest enthusiasm that the well known
ehair, q English and Comparative Philol'
ogy at Lafayette, so long occupied by Pro
fessoriF. "A. March, should be permanent.
" endowed by his own "boys," and for.
ever called by the name Of It's eminent oc.
cupant,, Those who have sat In Professor
March's class:roomsteel bothia sincere es:
TEEN Tor tile instructor himself and adeep
and lasting appreciation OF the value OF
his training; and by endowment Of this
proiessorship they will be able. to give adj
eqnate expression TO both these senti:
ments. .t,fEt .teirl ,7syi1tt g..j
This effort for the permanentiestablish-
ment,o OF the English chair OF Lafayette
which can hardly fail OF speedy success
possesses more than o modest interest for
others than the graduates Of the particu-
lar college in question. Itisnottoo much
10 say that the cause Of sound learning
in the United States Is under great and
peculiar obligations to Professor March.
IN the new interest in the minute historiT
cal and comparative study Of language,
our wntongue was too long forbidden a
share; and That English may to-day be
studied with the thoroughness bestowed
upon other languages, and with q similar
" completelibrafy OF aids to the learner,
10 duel to the llabors of Francis "A. March
more than to those oftany other scholar
in an English.speaking country. Years
before either Of the great English univer-
sites afforded opportunities for the profit
ably study of Anglo!saxon, Professor
March was offering to the students alta
fayette opportunities for pursuing that
branch to the fullest extent practicable in
an undergraduate course. Indeed, 1t is
not two years since one OF the lew coupe
tent scholars OF early English, In England,
sadly acknowledged, ina leading critical
journal, that for suitable facilities, In An
glo5Saxonathe student must go to Germa-
ny or the United States Soflate as 1876,
that writer was chosen to a newly estab.
lished chair of Anglo-Saxon In the Uni
yersity Of Cambridge, and not until the
same year-seyen years after the appear.
.ance OF Professor Afarch's greatl"Compar
alive Grammar of Anglo-Saxon"-did an
English publisher put forth O textbook In
that division OF the! English language in
any respect abreast Of modern scholarship.
Professor March's labors are known and
,honored I'M ondon, in Oxford, in Berlin, |
in Leipzig, as fu~llysasinour own country.
Starting almost single-handed, ut a time
when eyen professors in some OF our chief
colleges taughttheir students that Ghaucer
was the first English writer, and that An:
glo Saxon WA one OF the foreign langua-
yes out Of which English grew. Professor
March has lived TO see the historical study
OF English put upon q stable foundation.
HIS own pupils now instruct in other col.
leges, and his influence is not only felt in
the higher walks Of pathological study, but
also in the common schools themselves.
The timei Is not far when English gram
marians" will no longer feel at liberty TO
equip our language in every new text
book, with q entirely new set Of rules
and paradigms, constructed from their
own pleasure, without the slightest refer
ence to It's historical growth. ga,glie
II Il most fitting, therefore, that the
chair OF 0 scholar who Is as modest as he
Is eminent, should be permanently en-
by those whoare most directly in
debted TO his labors; and that its name,
in the history of American education,
bear witness in after years to his
faithfulness and his success.