The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-09-17
PRICE $3.50 A YEAR

DR.. Joynes, at the close Of DR.. Ncln
tosh's remarks resumed his subject
Higher English. His former talks OF
this line had led up to the treatment o
sentences by analysis. Now be began
to analyZe. This was done in a man
/ :. which was rIasterful in its sim
plicity, and which satisfied want long
felt by the writer. Since the sentence
is the unit Of thought, and hence of ex'
preston, in English, we must treat il
as whole. This word "whole" is the
key to the situation, and must be con
stuntly kept in mind. A simple sen
tence is resolved into subject and predi-
cate. That is all there is in it, nothing
more, nothing less. Right here the
stumbling block comes in. Not con-
tent TO aualyse and get the sense in
tended to be conveyed, parsing is at
tempted and often we butt our head
against difficulties of which the genius
of the language does not dispose. In
this event, ral1e your hat, make your
pulltest bow and admit that there is
more beyond, and that you yet have an
incentive to study. In doing this You
recognize the wonderful power and
scope of our mother tongue. The Doc
tor took a printed list OF sentences and
practically exemplfied his method and
showed occularly the great ease attend
ing its use. Just before DIR. Joynes
closed, State Superintendent; If Educa-
ton Mayfield entered. The Doctor
brought his talk to close and director
Morrison introduced Mr.. Maytield to
the Institute.
Mr.. Mayfield favored the Institute
with some very pertinent remarks
about Teachers Institutes, and the
profession generally. He bade them
press forward in the work, and prom
ised all the help in his power. He said
the press, almost to paper, had criti-
cised his efforts to raise the standard
of proficiency among the teachers, but
that be intended to pursue the even
tenor Of his way. He said that abrcAd, !,
Newberry County stood highest in
efficiency Of teachers and teachers
association work.
Mr.. Mayfeld's remarks were well
received and were helpful. We regret
his stay was so short. The afternoon
session was devoted to Geography and
Arithmetic. Director Morrison took
up Geog, Apply, and made g. helpful talk.
He placed upon the blackboard a chart
on which were written the steps
thought most desirable to be pursued in
teaching this study. He amplifed this
chart by pertinent remarks.
Mr.. WEIGH followed on the subject of
fractions-the pons asinorum of arith-
metic. Mr.. Welch took up a highly
complex form Of fractions and by SIM
pie cancellation arrived at the result in
one-fourth the time generally con-
sumed. Mental arithmetic was stressed
and its importal ce brought out.
On Thursday night we bad quite a
literary treat in lecture by DR.. Joyues.
The Newberrians who did not hear it
missed great deal. DR.. Joynes took
for his suhject-Epglish Language.
After d few preliminary remarks, he
said that, as he prayeth best who loVeth
best, so be tcachetA best who loveth
best. English is our mother tongue
and is entitled to our admiration and
love, and our reverence. 1t is the
patent of our nobility. The English
language is the most perfect instru-
ment of expression ever put at the
command of man. Historically speak
ing, the latest born, the Benjamin Of
the linguistic family. lis character is
composite, Germanic, (in the original
sense) blended with French.
Here DR.. Joynes showed the effect of
the Norman conquest upon our Ian
guage. How the German and French
infections, NOT agreeing, swallowed
each other and left us tongue almost
without infection, aud which is neither
German nor French, but English, diff
ferent from both or either. The his
torical aud pathological contents Of our
language are very rich. We draw
freely from German, French, Greek,
Latin, &c. Our vocabulary is mixed.
Manifold in its origin; uuequalled in
range and richness of words, in accent
and intonatlon.
We have many synonyms IN ou!
language which, while meaning prac'
tically the same thing, have by that
accuracy of thought aud distinction
peculiar to our tongue, taken on shades
of meaning peculiar To themselves, e. 6.
building. edifice, house, mansion.
Speech, address, oration. Tale, word,
narration, history. Short, lrief, con-
else, laconic. Build, erect, construct.
In no other language in the world is
there so great power in diction. In
no other is it so important to use right
words. Hence give great heed to dlctlon.
The dictionary is not dull If read with
the intellect. The words, as we find
them there. are only skeletons. Learn
their structure, so that when we build
sentences of them, we may know lst
where to fit them in to make a perfect
sentence, conveying a living thought.
Our tongue is heterogeneous and mani
fold in its constituents. Wonderful in
its power and scope. There is word
for which, as yet, we have no need,
curator, when we need IL we Will take
it, as we have taken orator and sena-
tor, and by changing the accent made
them English. DR.. JOynes used many
examples to show the genius of the
language. Its great power to lncorpo-
rate and assimiate foreign words. This.
he SalC, SnO"eu uot oii!N VIC po"el VI
growth, but was Il Iicdgc of growth.
In sharp contrast be showed the weak
ness Of the German language. It's ina
bility to assimlate foreign words. The
infection of these words had to be
learned separately. Societies were
formed pledged to not use foreign
words-:hus admitting the weakness
of the language. Our grammar is pc
culiar for its extreme brevity of WORD
forms. infectious dropped; polysyl-
labIes replaced by monosyllables; con-
densation and compression Of word
forms; force and power Of emphasis
great element in oratory. Here the
doctor said he had intended to read
two of TennyStn' poems, but the
time was too short. In these poems -
to 80 per cent of the words arc mono
syllahles, showing that English goes
like a bullet TO the mark. Our lam
guage is essentially logical and not
grammatical. We get the meaning OF
words by their position. English is
characterized by cohesion, simplicity,
clearness. Is subject to logical laws.
The Latin moves in graceful, sweep
;no cur,-as tho Fn1liSh nv right lines