The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1883-08-01
mir. Adam9's Onslaught on
latin and Greek.
From the Now York Sum

| t'rulpIs \ dams iii made Il DlIItf al
tack mon ,Ln study Of Latin and Greek
esnccialIy unon HAT Of Greek, ne con.
dncteJ IN onr American COLLEGES. Thi,
study lie ron,ondcd wa Of no par,icu.
liar value in JiscipIiring the mind. and
| for tbal uurng.o German and French
would be oujie rs useful. Nor did it,
result in prodggi.o familiarity with
Latin and GIcak ag,hors COMPENSATE
for fine waste - time and lahGr il in
waived. The admiration Of clas ical
literature which educated mon profess
liz he broadly liptsd Il mere profession,
Land fine un.tcrD;cccs Of The ancient a.c
mat 10 No co,rnarcl for beauty to
/ ,lo.o IF modern authors. He therefore
suggested, az Il practical reform N cor
/ Icgc training, that German s"'''n Ne
substituted for Greek, ana fIeHcn i'r
Latin. BESIDES beng c4o'iiy 'erY!ca"'
Die as an intellectual exercise inc a3'
QUESTION Of these modern languages
would enable the student to become nc
qnain!od with German and French
works, and to,cDJoy ireer intercourse
with the inh"oIianIs OF ioFclgn lands
What Mr. Adams sa'd on thl3 SUBJECT
has not the merit u novelty. It's ohIy
Il repetition oi the oDJecIohs to Classical
studies which have been made over and
over again for certainly Two hundred
years, If not longer. Nor dil he give it
any additional weight by his own per-
s9nAi testimony lie confessed that he
was not taught Latin and Greek thor
oughIy, that he cannot read them
iluchtly, and that he can form an oPln.
ION written IN them only by the help Of
English transIat!ons. Here are his
words;
"Thirty wears aoo--I sav il after n
careful search ormy mcmoryEtborouoh.
neg Of training in auy reaIIife sense Of
the term was unknown in those branch.
cs Of college education with which I
came in contoct Eyerytbino wa.
taupht "a Latin and Greek were tauoht
"For myse!f | am Obliged to say |
have now forgotten the Greek alphabet,
ana cannot read all the Greck charac-
tiers Il open my Homer.
"In any event, this thing hold to be
indlsputable; Of those who study the
classic languages not one in Il hundred
ever acquires that familiarity with
them which enables them to mdgc
whether given literary compositiou i,
Il masterpiece or not"
Leaving practical richness aside
are there in the classic masterpieces an,
bits Of literary workmanship which tax,
precedence Of what may be picked on
Of Shakespeare and Milton and Bunyar
aud Clarendon and Addison and Swift
and Goldsmith and Gray and Burk,
aud Gibbon and Shelley and Burns and
Macauluy and Carlyle aud Hawthorn,
and Thnckeray and Tcnnyson? #
there are any such transccndcnt bits,
can only say that our finest scholar.
have failed most lamontablv in their at.
lcmpls ut rendering them into ENGLISH
,n h c, ,,
= ; NV. ''','o ''''n ''%''p" ''' '!''',' :
=" ,' ''''", o'l"cy WI .,"s s1 > Ju"s
" '."' VI NV '''''u '''''' VI ia','n "'
"I'JN winnings cannot DC ANen ioI
'' ,n'' HR''l''' nun We nave ohly u
s'' INC sc''o"fS Oh al "tts al! NATIONS
TH ,: navy ~ enjoyed ana SUI ENJOY WIN
J T. ,I'c IlcU imagery "l Homer, tnc
u'.u'y '"Io'"'S' oi NHacrS -, "ha Inc,
o ,I '"' "''J's'{ :, oi .i''c'!iu'' VI
',''i'''r', ,, "nu VI '"'lI,'ue'' tno o'c,
Iana W ,i "I"' ''J "'''"'G ,'''r{ ~
lrn ~, '' ,''f "e..''5 F,'aI''' " o,G
Wv, 'o' ~ ei! .,,'i""- ~ V'"'' o''',.' " ~
! ltI'i tach ~ MAOiI has Ills peculiar CN-