The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-27
A MEETING OF SCHOLARS
THE MODERN LANG UIGE ASSOCII-
 TION OF AMERICA ASSEMBLIES,

Convention Opened in Osborn Hall Yester- | day-professors and Instructors From
 Nearly Every College In the Country Many Learned Papers Blander Mat
 thews One of Yesterdays Speakers
 Those Attending.
 | The thirteenth annual meeting of the
 Modern Language association of Amer
 ica was called to order in Al Osborn
 hall yesterday morning at 10 o'clock
 a. m. by the president, Professor James
 Morgan Hart of Cornell university, with
 about seventy-fve of the members present The membership of the asso- clation is composed of prominent pro- fessors and instructors in the various universities and colleges in the coun- try and others interested in modern languages. The first business in order yesterday morning was the reports of | the secretary, James w. Bright of Johns Hopkins university and the treasurer, Marion D. Larned of the Uni
 versity of Pennsylvania. The treasur-
 CTS report showed that the financial condition of the association was good | After the reports a communication was read from the Central Modern Lan-
 guages conference formed some time ago, requesting that it be allowed to affiliate with the association convened here. The request was referred to 8 committee con- sisting of Professor Kittredge of liar | yard, Professor Hart of Cornell and Professor Bright of Johns Hopkins At the conclusion of the business
 meeting the following papers were read
 and discussed at length, all the papers
 being brief; "The Origin of the Rule | Forbidding Hiatus in French by Pro- | fesor P. B, Maroon of Harvard; Marco
 Polo and the Squires Tale" by Pro lessor John NJ. Nlnley of Brown uni- 1 versity; "Goethes Attitude Towards l Contemporary Politics." by Dr. Robert N Corwin of Yale; "Euber Goethe's Sonnette," by3 Professor Shipper of the
 University of Vienna, the paper being read by Secretary Bright
 1 Dr. Corwin's paper sought to show | that the unfavorable criticisms made on Goethe's political practice and creed l are unfounded After reviewing, in outline. the various phases through
 which this hostility to Goethe has
 passed, Dr, Corwin took up in detail. l the circumstances of the poets invi-
 tation to the Weiman court and his l complete initration into the intricacies
 of statecraft during his early life there | thus showing that it $ incorrect to
 make Goethe's political attitude syn | onomous with his attitude toward the 1 French Revolution. His attitude dur | ing the revolution the wars of Libera- | tion, and the movements of constttu- tional reform, which followed these, | was then taken ID and il was shown l that Goethe's attitude compared favor ably with that of Germany's other
 great literary men and that his posi-
 tion, if We do not apply to it later
 day standard will be found entirely consistent with patriotism
 | The afternoon session began at 2:30 o'clock and about 300 persons were pres ent First on the program was paper
 on "The Conventions of the Drama" | by Professor Brander Matthews of Co., | lumbia university. Professor Matthews 1 described the convention in the va rious arts and led up to that of the
 drama. He said that in the Miracle
 play among Mexican Indians. a relic of
 the Spaniards, the devil is represented
 as United States cavalry officer.
 He then said that between this con-
 vention and others which he described
 and which would seem as Iudicrous to
 us and those so common on our own
 stage there is little choice. Until 1S4O l a room of house was represented on the stage by three walls and the room l was not "boxed' as at present with 1 doors and natural appurtenances. Then
 the actors strolled upon the stage from
 any place in the wings without regard
 to doors or walk. On one occasion
 Henry IrVing's company was to play in
 a certain place and on the evening of | the performance the scenery had ar- rived, but for some reason the costumes l had not. The fact was announced to
 the large audience and by request the
 actors went on in their ordinary dress
 In a short time the audience had for | gotten about the costumes and accepted | their absence as a convention. This shows that scenery and costumes are
 not necessary in the drama, as the con- ventions may do away with them, and | yet the production be a strong one. True art in the drama, as in everything
 else, comes in the production of the es- l sentials of nature.
 After the paper by Professor Mat
 thews the following papers were read:
 ''The Nibelungenlied and Sage in
 Modern Poetry" by Professor Gustav Gruener of Yale.
 Notes on John Tiploft, Earl of Wor- cester," by Professor Henry s. Pancoast of Germantown, Pa.
 "A Wilhelm Tell Ballad in America" by Professor M. D. Learned Of the Uni versity Of PennsyIvania.
 'Warmth-a study Of the Develop
 ment and the Disappearance Of a Stop Between Nasal and Spirant in Ameri- can English" by Professor c. H. Grand gent of Cambridge, Mass
 Notes on Ben Johnson's Quarrel With Marston," by Dr. Josiah H. Pen
 niman of the University Of Pennsyl- vania.
 Between 5:3O and 6:30 in the afternoon the ladies of the Yale Modern Language club rendered a reception to the ladies of the association attending the meet inq The rappntiOO vyac held 2 f No 125