Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-08-20
Letters to the ChiIdren...So. IS.

Letters TO the Children..-No. 13.
by RKy. >. a. BATES, woLoo1r.
1t Is good while since we came in from
the seashore to study Tamil But il is hard
work, and it will take good deal of hard
study before we get so we can understand
what the people say, and more study before
we can say to them all we want to say.
| once heard Father Spaulding say he felt
as if he did not know anything about their
language after he had been studying it for
nearly fifty years. used to think, too,
that he could talk better in Tamil than he
could in English What he meant was that
he was continually learning new Tamil
words | heard him one day ask little
missionary boy-perhaps only eight years
old-the meaning of new Tamil word lie
had heard, aud the little fellow told it at
once. So hope you children will begin
as soon as you can to study this language,
for 1t is very easy for young folks to learn
to talk in foreign language. But before
we have our lesson | want to tell you some-
thihB dbouO ~ 10 u very Oiu
Some learned men think it is one of the
oldest languages which any one on earth
now uses. There are some fourteen or
fifteen millions OF people here in southern
India and Ceylon who speak it. 1t is
very perfect language, too. mean by that,
that it has letter for almost every sound,
aud different word for almost every thing.
think that even little Nellie has already
found out that our English language is not
very perfect. Even Tom can hardly tell us
whether aba spells bay or bar. No, the
English language has not letters enough, so
we have to use one for good many sounds.
If our English was like the Tamil the school
children would not be so much troubled
over their spelling-books, learning such
words as cough " and "plough" and
"rough." But you see it would take you
much longer to learn the letters. Then
the Tamil has different words for different
things. We have word for little horse
and for little sheep, but how much more
perfect our language would be il it had
word for little apple tree, or little robin,
or little mouse. OF course this makes it
harder for us to learn the Tamil. Our mis-
sionaries have made dictionary of some of
the Tamil words They say there are more
than sixty.seven thousand words in ii. So
you see we have work enough to do before
we shall know all about this language. But
it is only one thing at time, aud it is pretty
work, too.
First, the letters. Our English has twenty
six. This language has tro hundred and
Miriy t,co of its own, and then some more
that We shall have to learn by-and.by, which
it has borrowed from some other languages.
And that makes me think of one thing that
is pretty about it. The name of the language
" Tamil" means sweetness, and perhaps one
reason why it is so called is, that it is a
musical language, with smooth, sweet-sound-
ing words. There are some sounds for
| which it has no letters. 1t has no G or Y
Or II, so it does not sound so harsh and
rough as thu German does, or even as some
| Of our English does. 1t has four different
RS, but the rough one is not very commonly
| used, and it has three Us, aud three Ms. 1t
is very good language to sing in. In fact,
most of the old books in Tamil are written
| in poetry, and the way the Tamil people
study grammar or geography is often to
slug it.
But now for our lesson. Here comes our
nioonsh ,e or teacher. Saiadm Ayah," he
says, and we must each say " .Saiddm to
him in return, Little Nellie comes first.
She is simply learning some Tamil words.
| The teacher does not know a word of English,
so he takes up book. First he holds it up
and says "M-en-na," Nellie has learned
| that that means, What is this p So she
answers, " Poot-ithum." He opsns the book
and points to some of the pictures with the
same question. ." A man." she says, /" is
mun-iMun; horse is kuAi-day an OK is
mdr-du. She is learning to count, too. and
as he holds up his fingers she counts; on
du, id-rundu, n,oon-iu, nar-iu, ain-thu, dr-ru,
er-iu, ert-iu, om-pa-thu, pai-iu." He gives her
a new lesson of words to remember for to-
morrow.
Now, Tom, it is your turn. You have got
beyond Nellie in some things, but she will
soon know more words than you do, think.
1t is wonderful how these little folks re.
member the names of everything; aud the
longer and harder the word is, the longer
they will remember it. Don't you remem-
Der how many centennials little Nellie
used to have up in Vermont when she was
only four years old, and how often she used
to call that path across the field 10 the school
house " the hypothenuse because you called
itso once when you were studying geometry
But now for your lesson. The teacher
says something to you, and you try to write
it down as he says it, He looks it over aud
corrects it, and then you take the dictionary
aud look for the meaning of one or tive
words which you do not know aud fluid he
has asked you question in Tamil You
are to answer it, perhaps with an arm fol
YES" or an a-lay for :" no." or you are tc
make up another sentence for an answer
So you try 10 talk with him for an half houl
perhaps. Then we will have reading lesson
perhaps from the first school book, called
Nyana Pari, or Spiritual Milk" which
begins with the question: Z" Who mad,
you Z" Or you take the Bible and read, aliC
the teacher corrects you when you make
mistakes. Then for grammar lesson. They
have an old grammar of the Tamil that wa