The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1894-09-20
THEiTEAoHINe OF EreL1sa.
A Word on The Report Of the English
Conference. Reply BY DR.. Allen
to Hupt. Greenwood.

a word on The Report Of the English
Conference. -Reply BY DR.. Allen
to Supt, Greenwood.
Dr.. b. A. Allen, head of the department Of
English In the University Of Missouri,
writes In the September number Of the Mfs-
sotirt School Journal as follows:
II 10 not my purpose TO write q line in
defence OF the report Of the English Con-
ference to the Committee Of Ten. All
these reports have been reviewed by
broadminded educators In the various
journals and reviews Of the country and
with hardly q exception have received
the highest commentator. These reports
have been rightly viewed as recommends
tions or suggestions coming from men
who are devoting their lives to their re-
spective departments, and hence were
thought to lave earned the right to an
opinion. The committees expected and
invited criticism, their reports speak for
themselves and must stand on their merit.
/ desire only to comment very briefly
upon a statement made by Supt. Green
wood Of Kansas City, in his remarkable
review Of the reports Of the conferences
which appeared in the March number OF
the Journal. He says: at IL hardly nee
eesary to remind the conference that few
persons, outside Of English book-worms',
care a Hg for old English, A~nglo-Saxon,
or Middle English and hat no time will
be wasted on a subject that has SO little
to do with the vigorous 'bob-tail English
of the present.
1t is difficult to see why the reviewer
went out Of his way to make a side thrust
at a subject that is not only not recon-
mended TO high schools by the English
conference, but is not even mentioned ex-
cept once In connection with other SUBJ
iects which are distinctly set down as
unsuitable for high school urricula. Here
Is the passage: 'It Is obvious hat without
q knowledge Of Anglo.Saxon and Middle
English, nothing can be accomplished by
q study Of the history Of sound change as
exempliled in derivation, word-composi-
ton, and infections, nor can any great
good come from an illustration Of mod
ern syntax through the syntax OF stages
Of the language with which the student
is unfamiliar; but although these import
aus hiiO VI II buDlcCt " hcCcboh-
rily be reserved to a later period, 1t
appears evident that certain other
branches Of the study might be pursued
TO advantage ever by pupils who have no
knowledge either OF the earlier stages Of
English or OF any foreign tongue"
II, therefore, Mr.. Greenwood's deliver
ance on the subject Of Anglo-Saxon and
Middle English is meant to apply merely
to the high school curriculum, the Eng
lish conference In excluding these sub
iects certainly deserves 30 far his APP
proval; II 1t Is an expression OF opinion,
however, on the value of Anglo-saxon in
general, It 10 hopelessly belated.
As to the value OF Anglo-Saxon and
Middle English in the higher study OF our
mother-tongue there is no longer any de-
bate. 1t would be hard to find a college
or university in America worthy OF the
nam in which the historical method,
based on Anglo-Saxon, is not pursued in
the study Of English. Its importance is
now universally conceded. II modern
English is an evolution from an older Ian
guage, hen this Oldest English, call it
Anglo-Saxon or old English as you choose,
must Of necessity be the ground for the
study Of the successive stages OF develop
ment, whether you call these periods
Middle English or Semi-saxon, until in
the process Of development modern Eng
lish Is reached. 1t would be impossible
to debate the question with one who did
not concede this at once; the spheres in
which each moved would never come near
enough together to collide.
In England, the chairs Of Anglo Saxon
at Oxford and Cambridge were established
long before there was any question OF a
chair OF English literature. In Germany
and France, in all the schools Of higher
education the students nave long pursued
this historical method in the study OF their
mo~ther-tongue. In America, it remained
for Thomas Jefferson to begin the move
ment by providing for this instruction In
the University Of Virginia which he
founded.
In his report dated Aug. 4, 1918, Mr..
Jefferson, after speaking of the adyan-
tages to be derived from the study OF
German, continues: "But in this point Of
view, the A~nglo-saxon is OF peculiar
value. We have placed 1t among the mod
ern languages, because it 10 In fact that
which we speak In the earliest form in
which we have knowledge of 1t. 80 1t
has this value, too, above the Greek and
Latin, that while it gives the radix OF the
mass Of OF language, they explain its
innovations only. 1t will form the
link In the chain Of an historical review
OF our language through all its successive
changes to the present day and will con
statute the foundation OF that critical in
struction in It which ought to be found in
q seminary OF general learning" And In
his Essay towards Facilitating Instruc-
tion In the Anglo-Saxon," which lies be-
fore me, he says: cts acquisition will
richly repay us by the intimate insight 1t
will give us into the genuine structure,
powers and meanings OF the language we
now read and speak"
The catalogues OF our best institutions
OF learning will show how far Mr.. Jeifer-
sons ideas have prevailed. The applica-
ton Of the historical method TO the study
Of English 10, in fact, one Of the latest
things out In modern education.
Was the author Of the Declaration OF
Independence, the great apostle Of civil
and religious liberty, an "English book
worm"7 My idea Of what 4 book-worm
In may be very different from that OF my
friend, whose review l am kindly review
Ing this warm day; but l feel sure that
Angio-saxon is the last thing your book
worm wants. He doesn't like the scien-
tifc study Of anything. My idea Of n book
worm IL, one who hlls his hea, with all
such reading a. was never read fthe COM
bination OF rhyme and rhythm here was
an ~accident.l But / leave the question
with the debating society.
! an also greatly surprised to learn that
Anglo-6axon "has so little TO do with the
vigorous sbob-tail Engliah, of the pres-