Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-06-04
DEAD LANGUAGES.
why ihey Should BE Stunned I3y the
Youth of This Glorious Land,

NiA Do uILIl , Lhe
Youth of This Glorious Land.
The president of an Eastern college
asks: sis there any good reason why
u sons should not study the dead Ian
guages?' 1t appears to worry him con-
siderably and he says he hopes to see
the fullest discussion of the important
question. The East has taken hold of
it and the West should certainly be
heard from on the subject.
1t is probably a fact thatthe untutored
West is against the dead languages. A
language that has been so Indifferent to
its own welfare as to let some otherlan-
guage get the drop on it and furnish a
theme Tor the county coroner would GER
tainly have no political influence, and
could IN no way help to build up the
country, therefore, the professor need
not be surprised if the West is found
backing the living and tolerably healthy
language as opposed to the dead and
wounded article.
do not think it necessary that our
sons should study these defunct tongues.
A language that didn't have strength
enough to pull through, but crawled off
somewhere and died, don't seem to be
worth Studying. Or, if the language
was foolish enough to call in a physi-
clan and otherwise court death, it don't
look as if u ons should worry over it
while there are good, healthy languages,
baseball b%oat-races and other studies
demanding their attention.
l will go even farther and say that I
cant see why our sons should spend
valuable time over invalid languages,
or languages that aren't feeling very
we'll. Let us not, professor, either one
OF us, send our sons into the hospital to
lug out languages on a stretcher. lust to
study them.
No, let us bring up our sons to shun
all diseased and disabled languages.
Even if it can't be proved that a Ian
guage comes under either of these
heads, if it has been missing since the
last engagement, it is just as we'll not to
have our sons chasing around after ii
with a detective, trying to catch it and
pore yer it.
On further thought I am surprised
that the professor should think there
was any question about this matter
when there are SO many live, able-bod.
led languages lbafng around with com.
paratively nothing to do. After a Ian
guage has regularly died and the weep.
ing relatives have contested it's will and
proved that it wasn't much, any way,
and was always more or less insane and
shaky, why should our sons spend theil
time writing their lessons on their cuff
and trying to pass an examination in it:
Or it a language come out into thu
great freedom-blessed West and goes te
putting it's Alpha and Omega brand OF
some n else's stock and subsequent,
sways warningly from the tall and dig
nitied telegraph pole, it is not for you
son or for my son to go and cut it dow
and seek to make its acquaintance.
While our sons are not on speaking
terms with many live languages, it ii
becomes them to 90 fooling aroun
the dead and dying. While they ma,
not know neighboring languages b;
sight, why should they seek to un
wind the cerements from some oil
mummy language that they can't &C
.cept the nomination to the Office of jus
tice of the peace in after they get it?
You may look at it differently, pro
fessor. Our paths in the great realm o
the education of youth may lie far, ia
apart, but it is my heartfelt wish that
may never live to see a son of mine rid,
right past healthy, athletic language
and then stand up in the stirrups an
begin to whoop and try to lariat som
poor, old language going around on
crutch, carrying half its alphabet in
sling! If two-thirds of the words in
language are flat on their backs, takin;
quinine, trying to get up an appetite
let us teach our son that they can no
hope to derive benefit from it's study
Fired II. Car7wth, IN Chicago Current