Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-09-19
CITY AND DISTRICT.
GEN. BIRNEY ON GREEK IN THE
HIGH SCHOOL.



When man writes tor the public on any sub
ject, his assumption is that he knows enough
about it to instruct others l have read the
reprimand given me by u. C. G. X" in your
number OF Saturday last, apropos of my imag-
insry heresy about Greek have done go with
humility. being conscious OF never having had
any use for that language, which was carefully
hammered into me for ten years of my youth,
and of having forgotten very much of it. But
remember enough of Greek history and liter
allure To see that N " has no right to give him
self airs. HIS article is full OF mistakes some
OF them such IA no scholar could make.
He says Christ spoke in Greek discovery he
ought 10 take ont patent tor. or a certain
period of the history of Greece. he says;
when her generals were intellectual giants
with learning not restricted to the art of war
whose compositions at this day give delight to
the man Of culture. In one campaign were
Aristides. Mtiades CaDachus and Hssehvlus
and others whose creations III literature will
command the admiration of the world while
civilization e1dGreS. Hear. heariT' The lam
guace OF such people can never perish let
chailatanry GeFide as ii will"
Fine words Borrowed from some sophomore
Grafton, probably; bat not word OF truth i'm
them Hschylus fOu sht ut Marathon in 400
sc. but he WAS no general Let *" prove
that commission General Calimachus is another
myth of n. $ cr-atiOn; the man vi that name
to whom *" alIudes held for MANY wears the
Office OF librarian at Alexandria, a peaceable
man who would not have SHE'D his boot at q
sleep-dlsturblng cat; and. besides, he died i'm
2lO Be. two centuries and half precisely
after Mitiades fought at Marathon. AS to those
marvellous creations in literature" by Arstid.s
and sIiltiades. nobody ever heard of them before
''k- published his article.
/ challenge him to name them or to get a
Certificate from Prof Huntingdon or any other
good Greek scholar that there are or ever
have been. so far as is known. any such works
AS to Calinachus, although he wrote a great
deal, and was admired by some Roman poets
very little OF his poetry has come down to us.
Simcox says of his best wOrks-his hymns-tbat
they are - Over-learned and frigid" Poor stuff
the whole of it. probably. | have not read
them. but accept what learned critics saw This
disposes of the two generals who wrote moth
ing; of the grand poet who was no general; and
OF the librarian who was no general q Door poet
and who died hundreds of years after the three
men whom = n. makes his contemporaries!
lit would be discOurteOus i'm me to charge *
with -'charlatanry;" he might think such a
CHARGE the first step to sacrilege. And indeed.
j ma no special fault with him for being super
f1cial. inaccurate and declamatorv. as ne does
not differ in those points from most gentlemen
who wish to get up reputation for learning by
defending the study of languages of which few
people know enough to detect their mistakes
But think he might have been better bred; he
puts into my mouth language used by re-
porter TO compress speech into a sentence
holds ME responsible for it Uerbdtim. CONSTITUTES
1t to mean an unreasonable thing when
1t would have borne a different mean
ing. and. without further ceremony, pro-
ceeds to assail me by name in the columns of
daily paper. masking himself under initials
He disre%ards the cOmmOnest cOurtesies or con-
troversy. treating those who differ from him in
opinion as not sane" mot Dropprly in
structed." mot qualified to appreciate" or mot
OF ordinary Intelligence" | hold no opinion
which am unwilling to defend. in proper time
anu place. against any opponent who observes
The rules OF ordinary courtesy; but | deny the
T'ght of any anonymous individual to draw me
into a controversy by assailing me with person.
atles IN newspaper. /, therefore decline to
notice further the communication of *"
Allow me few words on the merits of the
subject My estimate of the Greek as a lam
guage is not lower than that held at the best
universities. Its literature furnishes MANY
models of style The study of it is useful to the
theOlogian and to some classes of literary men,
and indispensable to the historian of ancient
times or literature. But to 9y9 out of / 900 of
the American people it is not necessity nor is
II useful in comparison with the German, the
language of millions of citizens; the French used
throughout the civilized world or the Spanish.
THE language ofthrpe-fourths of the Inhabitants
OF New Mexico. and Of all Mexico Central and
South Amer,cay with one or two ex-
ceptiOns. Nor Is it useful in comparison
with chemistry. physics. the natural sciences
and other studies which grow out OF the social,
pOiiflcai and business necessities of the Ameri-
can people. / know there are some Dryasdusts
whose experience of practical life has been
limited within college walls who believe Greek
a panacea for all the ills of human Ignorance
Ii boy Is to be an engineer, or machinist, or
carpenter or merchant. or department clerk, or
lawyer. they think the best way to prepare
him for his duties in after life is to give him a
ematterlng of Greek. If q parent has the fOlly
TO take their opinions on faith and sends q
bright lad to an o.d-fashioned college, and the
Lad sticks faithfully to his Greek and Latin
grammars and dictionaries, he graduates help
less mortal for all the real needs of American
life
The educational world no longer worships
Greek as a ietich. Our army and navy officers
get none of 1t at West Point or Annapolis. 1t is
not taught at the Boston Institute of Tech
noogy; or at the Stevens (HObOken) Institute of
Engineering; or at the Columbia College of
Mines; the Sheffield Scientific School, or the
Rensselaer, Institute of Engineering These in
stltutions graduate men who are the peers in
framed ability OF any men in the nation At
Harvard. in the literary course Greek is elective
after the freshman year. and is not re-
CURED for admission into the agricultural
law, medical. or scientific department.
At Cornell. it is neither required for nor
studied in, thirteen out of fourteen courses i'm
the college proper and in the remaining course
II IS elective after the freshman year At the
Michigan university the rule differs little from
that at Cornell. and at the Virginia uni ersity
'AtVN II PuitiS tItCtix- Al JO!.ES HOPKINS,
which stands at the Mead of all the American
universities. German and French may be offered
instead of Greek by person who desires to
matrlcuiate. If the student wishes to learn
Greek afterwards he has an opportunity to do SO
under the best professors.
The academic course Of the High School by
the Introduction of French and some practicable
changes In other points. can be made to prepare
boys tor matrculatng at the Johns Hopkins
University. German and French could be taught
We'll In the three years course, while of Greek
owing To the traditional bad methods Of teach
Ing. nothing but smattering could be given
No boy from Washington. / believe. has ever
passed the Greek examination at the Johns
Hopkins for matricuiafion. Our graduates from
the High School ought to pass the German and
french examination. for they learn German ad-
miraby and might learn French as well under
good native teacher. But this subject cannot
Dc fully treated in one article Yours,
WILLIAM BIRNEY,
The Police and the Policy ShODs.
10 the Editor az Tn