Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-12
Yale Kent Club.

Ex-Governor Chamberlain's Lecture on
 "Greek not a College Fettch.''
 The fourth lecture of the Kent club course
 was delivered last night by ex-Governor
 Chamberlain. His subject was Greek not 8
 College Fetich'' and it was treated in a
 masterly and scholarly manner. The lecture
 was chiefly reply to the Phi Beta Kappa
 address of Charles Francis Adams and was
 begun by quoting his views as there ex-
 pressed. This was fair and honorable way to begin and served to clearly put before the audience in an impartial way the merits of the discussion. Mr. Adams ideas are essen certain fundamentals, of which Greek should certainly have no part unless at the option of the student, for the discipline of the mind can be as well accomplished by the modern languages as 8 fundamental and more proftably. That language that ceased to be spoken over two thousand years ago should comprise these Fundamentals, to the exclusion of other mod ern and useful languages, is not in accord ance with our advanced ideas. To this the lecturer replied by pointing out that by a succession of natural causes the Greek language was developed into the most perfect form that can be conceived of, and to which no modern language has ever ap- preached. That with it's monuments of poetry, history, philosophy and oratory it stands as the absolute neces- sity for thorough scholarly requirements, and that when included in these Fundamentals referred to it serves both the purposes of discipline and modern usefulness. If MT. Adams admits his superficial requirements in the Greek language and deprecates the sys- tenn by which it is or has been taught at Harvard college or elsewhere, that does not concern the question that when. properly taught it is of the most essential and fundamental necessity for disciplinary and scholarly purpose The history of the development of Greek lan- guage is grand one from the time that Greece arose, surrounded by barbaric nations, and when Rome was first struggling for it's existence until the time that she ceased to exist when the standards of Rome were placed upon the acropolis. Greek life and thought pervade our modes, arts and literature. Gosthe is but German Greek, and to him MT. Adams points as the author that might be placed instead of the great orators, philosophers and poets who were his masters. MT. Adams speaks of his grandfather and great grandfather as exam pies of his views. Yet the former endowed a Greek professorship in an academy and the latter in 8 long public life often at- tested his appreciation of the advantages of Q classical education, and in his foreign diplo matic relations proved that at the age of forty-two he could acquire the languages of Europe by means of the assistance his training had given him; and further John Quincy Adams, in resigning his profess orship at Harvard before he entered his long public career, expressly coDjured his pupils whom he was addressing for the last time to cling to the ancient languages as necessary and fundamental basis for a education.
 The lecturer went on to illustrate that In Germany, where, for the last eight years, the two sy stems have been in vogue side by | side, 8 report of the faculty of the univer- sity showed that those scholars who had | been grounded in the, classics took the | lead of those who had not, and that the classical students had more ef- fective tools to use in their vocation than those who abandoned the ancient for the modern languages.
 The whole lecture was @ most powerful | and showed General Chamberlain's power of thought in a marked degree. Gen. Chamberlain was the guest of Professor Sheen E. Baldwin. After the lecture the speaker was greeted by President Porter and various other prominent members of the col eRe faculty of whom many were present.