West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1897-11-18

intergels added TO two ,ntergcrs
we should fiud--and | assert tins
boldly. sir, aud without the fear OF
successful contradiction--wc, | re.
peat, should fiud by the particular
arlthmetical formula before mon
tloned--and, sir | hold myself
perfectly responsible for the asscr
ton am about TO make-that the
sum OF two given intorgers added
to the other two intergors would bc
FOUR
Much OF the criticism ot the sin.
and short comings of editors have
been gwen in spirit Of the kind
est fun, but thcre is one thing do
want to speak Of in all sobrrness
and seriousness and that is the
loyalty we should all cherish to.
ward our mother tongue.
We should feel ourselves i'm honor
bound to preserve ITS integrity as
we woul d the honor of our country's
flag. We should be careful that
we never degrade or weaken il. nor
abuse it, but we should by our
use OF 1t try TO make it pure, strong.
or, clearer, better. more incisiye.
moro expressive and more elegant.
1t is said that the Kalmuck Tar.
tars never grow weary Of praising
the beauty, elegance and force of
their language. 1t is indeed bar
b"rous language but to them it is
musical, rhythmicnl, sweet and
altogether charming.
We should emulate their devo-
ton when we remember that we
have language enriched by the
treasures of dozen other tongues
IA language which has laId under
tribute, the Greek, Latin, Hebrew,
French, Italian and Spanish-a
language which has the elegant ex.
pressIveness of the Crock, tho SON
orousness Of the Latin, the poetry
OF the Hebrew, the clearness Of the
French. and the musical sweetness
OF the Italian.
Let me commend to you the
words of De Quincy when he gave
advice to the young English poet
"lf there is one thing in The
world that, next after the flag of
his country and its spotless honor.
should be holy in The eyes of a
young poet-it Is the language OF
his country. lie should spend the
third part Of his life in studying
this language and cultivating its
total resources. He should be will.
ing to pluck out his right eye, or
to circumnavigate the globe, if by
such a sacrifice, il by such an exer.
ton, he could attain the greater
purity, precision, compass, or lido.
matte energy OF dictlon."
The press Is the peoples univer
sIty. Half OF the readers Of Christ
endom read little else. II we had
to choose between our colleges and
our newspapers, If we had to make
a choice as to which would be de-
stroyed, we would say, our colleges
are OF immeasurable value--we
don't see how we could get along
without them, but the Newspaper.
the newspaper is indispensable.
And why indispensable? Because
IN this country we have seen the
advent Of the masses TO suproms
power Demas is King. How will
no ruler We have equality OF
rights. We have recognized tho
power OF numbers. The masses
make the numbers. Power which
wisdom does not guide is danperous.
Who shall teach the sovereign peo-
pie the way Of wisdom Who shall
lead them IN right paths. II they
arc not led in right paths we must
submit to the decision anyway; we
must submit to the yea or nay OF
general ignorance.
They are willing 10 be led. thew
are anxious 20 be- instructed. They
read our constitution, they study
on the great question OF economics
and admIstration--and when thcy
are asked the question winch Philip
put 20 the eunuch: Understand |
thou what thou readest ?" They
reply IN the language Of the eunuch
"HOw can we understand exccpt
some man guide us?" Who then
are to be the guides? The thous
ands Of editors throughout the
land TO whom the masses alwavs
come for words OF wisdom. The
thousands Of country papers always
have power among the people
lmmoasurably great. They NAV
not have fortunes Of millions: tbey
may not like the great city dailies |
have at tho head ~ osch . .-