The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1891-12-12

Thoughtfally Discussed For Careful
Readers.

hNH1Nh os
Many college Professor has been
well nigh discouraged by finding FREE
lquently his best students numbering
our English tongue.
"Fault of home training il is as
ually called, but home training is
made responsible for too many things.
A child cannet be shut within home
walls. and sometimes the pcrversity
of human nature inclines il to adopt
manner of speech totally foreign
TO the parental variety This is no.
tably so when one hears the soG e. 2
minister swearing, But il wasn't
profanity had in my mind as the
aisconraging element Professor fire.
quently encounters. Soue professors
do not find profanity discouraging.
In fact, they are able and willing to
lead a pupil into its most intricate
paths.
was thinking of the classical stu
dent who does not write correct
English senience-of the well drilled
scientist who always makes himself
objective if possible, and who invar.
iably says Its me" ir opportunity
presents itself. / was thinking of
those of us who say Il asst" when we
really mean Il asked" who ignore
our final g's ia wholesale way that
practically eliminates the letter from
our vocabulary. Really, ] wonder
how many OF us in West Virginia are
proving ourselves genuine English
speaking people.
Fully two thirds OF as would only
claim to be provin' it. So often we
are anxious to he "learned" some
thing. when the most that can be
done for us is to teach us, and if we
wait for the other process it will be
a long drawn out disappointment
We protest that We "done" some act,
when we know we did" it, and some
of us would have went" when it
would have been better to have
gone.
! suppose there is scarcely anyone
but would be indignant to find surh
mistakes as these attributed to him,
yet among our people, and among our
cultured people you will hear every
one Of these over and over again. Not
that one person is guilty of them all,
but | know one man who invariably
changes the in ask to t, and another
who always says done when he should
say did. and almost all Of US repu
diate any connection with final g.
9%#
or course we all know that there
are many other things more impor
tant than grammatical precision, and
no one thinks of putting it on an
equality with professional or bust
ness ability, but without doubt 1t is
a right good setting to have about
either.
| have beard that one of the most
famous Of German Professors can
neither correctly spell nor construct
a sentence where there is the ghost
of chance to make a mistake. But
the world is much more willing TO
forgive him his lapses than those of
us whose fame is not of the over
shadowing kind, and while it ac
knowledges his pre- eminence in scien
titic fields it would not recommend
him as a teacher-of grammer. nor
would it appreciate him the less if
he were model in language as well
as a leader in scientific research.
There is certainly nothing incon
gruous in the idea that well trained
minds may express themselves clear
ly and alphabetically in good pure
English, aud if il isn't possible for a
man to learn quite as much science
or quite as much Of the classics
without torturing his native tongue,
|, for one, should prefer that he stop
short of such high attainment on the
one hand and reach greater prof
cheney on the other It's all very we'll
to be specialist, but specialists that
become too much 50 are sent to ldn-
attic asylums
So
We failed utterly, although we
made desperate effort, to decide
upon a national flower. We had the
screaming eagle fastened upon us as
our American bird while yet we were
too young to know bow easily we
might change our minds. But never
a Thanksgiving passes by but many
voices are raised in protest against
the fact that the bird that presides
over all our feasts, and the whirring
of whose wings were first heard in
our forests, is not allowed to bear
aloft our national colers. The lerdly
turkey is undoubtedly very Ameri
can.
For long time there has indeed
been no doubt in our minds as to our
national game, and base ball has
stood without a rival, but foot ball
is coming to the front with all the
vigor that charaeterlzes it, and the
indications are that it will occupy
not only it's own hut portion Of
base balls place in the heart OF the
free American citizen. L. IL z great
pleasure To see men strugglf aud tug
and fall and kick for supremacy
1t is probable that tue great Amer
icsa game, like the national flower,
will he subject to change. As 6 pee
pie we are not in very settled state
as to emblems, characteristics or
pursuits. We are all entirely sure
that "all men we're created free and
equal" but beyond that we do not
like to commit ourselves.
-
/ was talking to learned man the
other day, and, as usual. was either
talking too fast or not loud enough.
At any rate he failed to understand
an important remark OF mine, and
startled me by the way he ejacula
ted "HowY" He didn't mean how at
all, because there was no hew about
it, That is what he always says
when he desires repetition, and |
suppose it answers the purpose for
which he intends il. as he evidently
finds il satisfactory. ] wonder who
is responsible for misrepresentation
that word, anyway | have heard it
used by men who haze hfeatiied the
presumably correct atmosphere of
Yenkeedom, by flre-eating Southern
ers who are supposed o rossess a
| ~