Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-31
LET US USE ENGLISH.
A Very Interesting Discussion Over n
Worlds Fair Inscription.

WORLDS fAir inscription.
The narrowing influence of mere pcdan
try has been illustrated with fresh force i'll
relation TO the Latin inscribed on pedi-
ments and monuments of the Worlds fair
Professor Hatfield of the scholastic insti-
tuition at Evanston published in The Dial
of this city q letter declaring that he had
copied the inscription on the Egyptian
obelisk at jackson park, and that he hoped
the fires reported there had carried the
obelisk off, so that its illiteracy should not
longer cucumber the earth, or words to
this effect Professor Hatfield reproduced
the offending inscription as he read it and
added that if freshman student in one of
his classes should write such jargon he
would send him out of the room for gross
| ignorance. Professor Hatfield thought tho
| fair commissioners should have got them
| selves edited before they set up nonu-
ment of their ignorance to be read by the
| nations of the earth"
1t would seem that inasmuch as the fair
was over and the inscription on the obclisk
| had been read by the nations of the earth
without protest as to its Latinity Professor
Hatfield might have h a patriotism enough
to let the inscription go unrcbulled, but
| the desire to advertise the fact that he was
engaged in pedantry doubtless overcame
all larger and more ideal considerations.
| 1t was noted ut the time of Professor Hat
fields publication that he did not venture
to substitute correct Latin for the jargon
against which he protested. 1t is known
| even among good readers of Latin that to
| write it is quite another matter and the
professors discretion in rcfraining from
correcting the bad Latin was out of all
| proportion to his rashncss in dcnouncing
its badness. But comes along one Of the
ted had not got himself edited" and he
shows that Professor Hatfield, instead Of
reproducing the obclisk inscription cor
rcctly, as he claimed, committed IL errors
in the transcription
The real question remains, however
The commissioners who are supposed to be
| responsible for tie inscription were not
chosen because of their pathological attain
| ments, but for reasons totally detached
| from scholarship-we may as well be
| frank. 1t was doubtless intended as cour-
tesy to the assumed culture of other por
lions of the race that Latin was used on
the architectural supports or incidental
sculpture Of the fair. 1t was understood
that counsel had been had with distin
guishcd experts in famous institution of
learning near Boston before the Latin in
scriptions were approved for jackson park,
|
geography at Jackson park was carefully
examined by more than one trained scholar
before a line was adopted In fact, in the
English of Professor Hatfield the fair
got itself edited "
Without censuring those literary cmbcl-
lishments which were more or less unin-
telligible on account Of distance and some
what irrelevant nothing, it will be admit
ted, was more evident during the fair than
that the use of words not rooted in our
own speech was Intellectual and therefore
injudicious. The fair was for the people.
It's language should have been of the peo-
pie. 1t was humiliating, if laughablc, to
hear the questions necessarily asked about
the lagoon" To be sure, the word is
English but its significance is not COM
monty familiar. Some people thought it
an animal. 1t is true that applications
were often made to the guards for "admis-
sion to the lagoon and for the privilege
of seeing the lagoon fed. Lake" would
have been quite as beautiful a word and
would have been universally understood.
Even Boston itself does not lagoon" its
pond, and we do not attempt to lagoon"
the little waters in our parks when not
associated with Worlds fair. There were
other terms equally affected. One of them
antcdates ana survives the fair, but Mid
way plaisance' has acquired new char
acter, distinct particolorcd and multi
form robe, and its verbal bravery we shall
tolerate without hardness Of heart or mind
hereafter
1t has come to be chief glory of the
modern age to use English we'll Long as
the polished French held pre-eminence as
the language of diplomacy, supplanting
Latin in courts as English supplanted Lat
in in our common literature. Intrcnched
as French is still in even the official publ
cation of the German empire, Almanac dc
Gotha - monument TO the influence of
? Noltaire; rich as Is German and never
mightier than today for music is bearing
its sonorous verse to all lands that love
, grandiosc song-the progress of English
alone is keeping pace with advancement of
frontiers of civilization. In the far north,
In the south Pacific, at the equator, it is
, becoming the paramount tongue. In Aus
tralia 1t Is taking the place of old held by
German. In portions of what were origi-
nally Dutch settlements it has succeeded
, Dutch to large degree In Russia and In
l Germany it is second only to the vernacu-
lar, and the next international conference
will doubtless adopt it as the most expedi-
ent medium.
What legislation cannot do commerce
has done. All artificial efforts to preserve
a old or to propagate new vocabularies have
proved and must continue to be futile.
| Ancient languages have their own imper-
ishablc and reserved place in the love and
q learning of mankind. All modern tongues,
f many of them surviving civil prescription,
: should be cherished by those to whom they
t are cradle speech and studied by adj who
: can English is the language of destiny.
They to whom it is cradle speech can well
l afford to study II with worship. 1t should
Q be their care to protect it against violation
/ or intrusions, For noble sentiment, pro
0 found truth, broad wisdom or eloquenct
f or tenderness, it is needless to wander from
1t into other tongues, be their true accent:
lost in the dim music of antiquity or be
): their organic forms plastic in the pottery
J. of contemporaneous life.-Chicaeo Herald