The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-08-18
LEARNING" TO ''TEACH."

what Mr.. johnson Says Of TilIman's
Vigorous E~ngIish-The Press and
Banner Was Wrong and the Sena-
tor Was Right.
Washington, D. c., August II, 1897.
In the Press and Banner of this week. where
mention Is made Of Senator Tillman's recent
speech at Abbeville. ] notice the folloWing
criticism :-'During his speech he frequently
spoke OF learning people 10 do so and SO,
when he meant to say teaching"
do not wish to justify the use OF learn
good usage at the present day, we do not have
10 go very far back in our literature TO find
that our best authors used the word LEARN
In the sense of "to teach v and no dictionary
the Standard, the Century. &c, omits to give
this as an archaic or obsolete meaning OF the
word. For instance, the Standard. In Its sec
ond definition OF the word ~"learn," says: I
teach: q use now considered erroneous,
thought formerly common in good writing
and speaking"
I call attention to this, not 10 excuse in
Mr.. Tillman the expression 10 which referen-
cells above made, but 10 say that a lapse now
and then into the so.called errors Of unletter-
ed folks. like the one here mentioped. helps
to show where Mr.. Tillman learned the Ian
guage that he knows to use with so much
force. With no special prediction for the
Romantic part, but with a full appreciation OF
the strength and power OF the Anglo-SaXon
element, he handles his mother tongue as but
few men now before the American public are
able TO do.
Mr.. Tlllman, as any one cognlzant Of him
must nave observed, has studied his native
tongue not only In books. but among. people
who speak 1t without having conned the rules
that grammarians and rhetoriclaus talk
about and, after all, he who neglects this
latter field, because. forsooth, the schoolmas-
richest OF the harvest. DO We not daily hear
unlettered persons who have grown up out
side Of schoOl-houSes, express themselves In
short, pithy words that have meaning and
force whereas, If some pedagogue, oppressed
with u fear OF slang, were TO get hold OF them,
the words would have to be converted INTO
high sounding and sonorons terms, losing, by
the way, In the metempsychosis. all the VI
gor and robustness OF which they were possess
Who to this day has ever used our Ian
guage with such tremendous power as Will
am Shakespeare? And who more than he ever
got down 10 the speech OF the great body OF
people? He was evidently a mar Of the
world, conversant with all classes. equally at
home among all, and capable OF everywhere
appropriating what he Jaw best. That he did
not always model his speech after theiiorms
taught In the schools would seem 10 be appar-
emit from the manner In which the compilers
of grammars, even 10 this day, pounce upon
him and complain OF his disregard Of the con-
ventional rules OF speech. Instead OF ieedlng
on the scant and ofltimes exotic plants to be
found:in the gardens of pedants, he frequent
ed the rich fields of the sturdy yeomanry and
INDICATED to us in literature the strength and
beauty of our English tongue.
If Mr.. Tillman does now and then, in the
heat of off-hand speech, commit a lapse (and
bis lapses are extremely few, he Is neverthe-
less q master OF the English language. He
and having TO use a plain, blunt speech that
q farmer has TO use, but any one acquainted
with our language, and Its various elements,
must r%econgniZe that 1t is from choice that
Mr.. Tillman uses The genuine article. unadul.
ternted with the sweetened juices of a foreign
growth. -.
DO you want examples Of the effect with
which he can use our language? Man after
man Of the Democrats In the Senate OF the
United States had SOU ht to criticise the late
Administrator as faithless to the party that
had it into power: 1t was not until Mr..
Tillman paid his respects OF the outfit that
the climax was reached, and ever afterwards
the Administration, both In the Senate and
out of It, was a by-word and a reproach ex-
cept in the mouth Of those In some way de:
pendent upon 1t. Tillman's hot words raised
blisters and made scars that could not be hid.
Who, for instance, OF the speakers that had
lamoasted Mr.. Carlisle had been able to tag
him and burn into him the descriptive words
"the Kentucky Judas"
Again, take his speech or the armor plate
trust. That trust for a dozen years had fat
tened on the govern ment and sold armor for
the great battle ships for az much sometimes
as S675 q ton. Finally the figures had been
ESQuCGu W pfED d lOut oClo" "hlSh Jig Iluob
said they could not go. The navy Depart
ment, the House of Representatives, and the
proper committee OF the Senate had agreed
TO those figures; and the appropriation bill
those figures in 1t for armor plate. Mr.. TILL
man moved TO amend by reducing the figures
TO $500 a ton and providing that the govern
ment should establish Its own factory for ar
the latter figure. IT was in the closing hours
Of the Congress and for two hours the over
crowded galleries and packed Railways look
ed on with Amusement as the hot shot was
belched forth that threatened 10 penetrate
and destroyed even the plate armor Of Car
pegle; and, strange 10 say, when the roll was
called fifteen minutes on q vote to
table the amendment, but eleven men re-
maine with hardwood enough TO stand up
and be counted for the trust-but eleven men
In that great hot-bed where trusts flourish.
The rest had deserted their colors and fled from
the field. The trust sought at the late extra
session to re-marshal It's forces and enlarge
the limit OF expenditure, but its minions were
still 100 timid for effective aggressive work.
Was this result accomplished by the use OF
language that had been robbed OF all power 10
through? No man knows better than Ben
Tillman how 10 talk home 10 the end deslr-
cd.
I might instance also the manner In which
Mr.. Tillman at the late extra session, In q
speech in support OF the resolution 10 lnves-
tigate, paid his respects incidentally to the
sugar trust. One result OF the speech was TO
cause several Senators TO make themselves
ridiculous by assuming the position. In effect
that Il man might be q rascal until the very
day heSwas elected to the United States Sen.
ate. and that he might return TO his rascality
the day after his term as Senator ended, but
that for the time he was Invested with the
Senatorial robes he must be held free and
quit from all things vile or ignoble. The pow
er of the Senatorial toga thus to change the
nature Of q man and to preserve him pure
orl ,,nc1llioH 90 long no ig Spcfp1 fNlhS are
about him, Is already a subject OF jest.
A man may have served Tor years an Inter.
est, corporate or otherwise, and that interest,
and the influences by 1t controlled, may have
procured him q seat In the Senate, and he may
continue In his new field OF labor TO serve the
interest which for its W purposes placed
him there but let a person, however reputa-
BILE, rot q member of the favored body, speak
before the public OF the close sympathy be.
tween the Senator and his creator, and at
once some friend, In an interview for the pub
lie press, tells hos the distinguished Senator
cannot afford TO dignity with notice the words
Of every dealer in billingsgate that undertake
es 10 besbatter public officials. Only let such
charges be fetbered by some responsible per-
son. and this friend gives US assurance that
they will be fully and completely met.
Let one authorized to speak on the floor OF
the Senate rise and call attention TO charges
that reputable men are boldly making ana
hat reflect upon the character and practices
of member of the body and at once, concern
ing him who thus mentions such matters
within the precincts Of the holy place, the
lamentation is raised: behold the disgrace
that has befallen the grand old common
wealth. In The days gone by she sent states
men TO the Senate. Now she sends black
guards"
Verify we are very bad If we use strong or
ugly words about persons who live in the
giamor of high place. Those who ply their
trade In gilded saloons do not like the same
terms applied TO them that nre given to their
less fortunate but no more erring sisters whose
surroundings are not so courtly.
1t is not to Mr.. Tlllman considered with re-
koronna u LIZ IohIontc To xuhinh his Snpach Is