The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-07-02

Under the title Of "a College Fetch
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams, jr. has just
delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, at Harvard, an address which, first
OF all, is remarkable for It's audacity. Mr..
Adams is not only a college-bred man
but Harvard-bred man; yet he pulls
down and smashes college idol and
Harvard idol, jumps on it and kicks about
It's broken pieces as though he was dealing
with Hindoo god or one Of those hideous
wooden ogres Of the Indians Of the North
West. 4
Mr.. Adams has the boldness to charge
that his alma mater wronged him by fore
inghimto bow down before thefetich Of the
Greek Language, hard to learn, rarely mas
tered, after all Of little use. What she did
to him she did to the other members OF his
classof'56. Other colleges were doing the
same thing at the came time, and he has
not much reason to believe that the col
leges are doing better to-day. Mr.. Adams
admits for Greek all that is claimed for 1t,
and after that he maintains that the game
il not worth the candle. Hetook the regu'
lation dose OF Greek--that was necessary,
or he never could have gone through col.
lege; and now he is forced to confess he has
forgotten the Greek alphabet, and ii he
opens his Homer he can notread the Greek
characters-"such," he says, "has been the
beall and the epd-all OF the tremendous
labor Of my school days"
There may be men who have had a bet
ter experience with their Greek, who can
read half page Of the Iliad without a
grammar in one hand and lexicon in the
other, but they are likely to be the Greek
professors in the colleges. To all except
select iey the hidden beauties OF the writers
in that dead tongue remain hidden and
forever dead. There is no scarcity OF col
leue graduates in Wheeling; it may be
doubted whether any one Of them five
wears from college would like to stand up
ON sight for freshman's examination in
Greek. There is no mental training to be
had from tho study OF Greek that can
not be had without it, with the additional
advantage that study can be put in its
place which will be seryiceable not only as
mental discipline but as well for its own
practical value.
And this brings US to strong point In
Mr.. Adams address. There is no pursuit,
except the teaching OF Greek, in which a
knowledge OF this dead and difficult lam
cuage is indispensable. Greek lacks the
relation to the English and certain OF the
modern European languages which. Latin
bears. It cannet be claimed for Greek, as
for Latin, that it is tho language OF techni-
cal expression. II can not be said for
Greek, as for German and French, even
Spanish and Italian, that it is language OF
the highest contemporary thought. The
most that can be said for Greek is that
some superficial knowledge of it is neces-
sary to get into and out OF college. After
that it is quite permissibleto forget it. The
world does not make the same demands
that the college makes.
Mr.. Adams leading idea is that the col
lege ought to place itself in line with the
progress oil the time, to do what it can to fit
Young men for their life work in severe
" practical age. He would not banish
Greek from the class room, but he would
somodify the requirements that candi-
date for admission might be examined in
such other language than English or
Latin as as he might choose-Hebrew,
Greek, German, French, Spanish or 1tal-
ian; or, the college might Goso far as to be
content with two modern languages in adj
dition to English, to which it is gratifying
10 sec Mr.. Adams attach some impor-
lance. The modern languages, particular
" German and French, Mr.. Adams calls
tools Of trade TO the man who follows q
liberal profession or science. Certain It's
that such q man, lacking either OF these
languages, will find himself embarrassed,
and with difficulty will keep up with his
better provided competitors.
Such doctrine from such man preached
under such circumstances, ought to give
great encouragement to those who think
that the college course oughtto be practical,
sothatthe candidate lorsuccess in the hard
struggle that is to come after shall be made
as strong as college can make him. The
school days are TOO precious to be wasted
in however small measure. The college
man, as far as may be, ought to have the
tools OF trade put in his hands, SO that
under good masters he may learn to use
them.