The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-04-04
AGAINST THE CLASSICS.


OF Latin as u Waste of Time
Ii IL rot to the Crooks ana Romans
that owe tie formation OF my heart
ard mind. IL is net 10 Virgil or to
Cicero; Il is not to Seneca or to Livy: 1t
Ia not 10 SophocIrs and Plato that owe
it, or even to the delicious Euripices.
who rlsases ne sinply because l am
amused at discovering in him more or
less Of the modern dilstAnti.m. owe
it rather TO the Bible, to the classic
French writer's. to Montaigne, to Psscal,
to La Bruyere to Rousseau, to Chateau
BRAND, to LamArtine, to Michelet to
sainte- Beuvs, to Taine, and to ReDsn.
But am becoming more and more sc-
quainted with the fact that know moth
ing. 1 am ignorant Of tie English Ian
guaRs. which is spoken by ene-hslf the
world, and my German is simply pitiable.
Now. you will say that It Is my own
fault and that might have learned those
Languages when was young. Bat was
1t my fault, wien had at my disposal
only one faculty Of intellectual work.
linite1 and msdiocrs, which was alb
sorbed oompletsly by the studv OF defunct
languages, imposed uron me bv tlird
tradition, and from which derived very
little sdvantasep Ard don't believe for
a moment thst I am the only man In
this situation. The beauties Of tho Ger
man and English languages. although /
can ret only glimpses Uf their richness
are to me . little better than closed
took. cannot even sravel with intsIIect-
ual profit l have forgotten tho little
that did know Of physical and natural
science. Ny limbs are awkward ana
heavy. I have no manual training. ]
am like . man In ueserted island, and
more louely than Robinson Crusoe Il
still feel the weight Of ths evening studies
of the Institution ksssin, which lasted
three hours and half, and which closed
. days work without fresh air, without
recreation, and during which i racked
my Brain over sureriiuous Greek and
Latin. am good for nothing, except TO
write. and would not dare to say that
I owe that to my Latin, because II /
write my native language corrsctly, /
certainly do not claim to write 1t more
purely than Louis Veuillos who only
went through the cours do "la mutuelle"
or George sSsnd, who did not receive
whas is called liberal eduostion.
The study of dssd languages IL useful %
an exercise Of the mind. But Why should
not the study Of living languages be Just
~ valuable. So far as can judge, the
Gel man grammar II more beautiful and
more harmonious In It's complsxity than
the Latin grammar, and IL IL not Inferior
to the Greek grammar. And az for the
intellectual and moral substance Of an
tique literature. IL 10 not alone by the
classics thst IL psnetrstes the mind Of
our children: 10 10 rsther-snd how much
enriched l-by the English, the German,
the italian and the Spanish writer's.
II. therefore, the benefit derived from
Latin is 90 smsll for man like me. who,
twenty-five yesrs ago knew 1t very well.
what profit can 10 be to uins-tenths Of
our coilesiaus who appear to learn it.
but who do not know IL and who never
can know IL?
The faculty does not dare to erase Latin
venerable and proved method By which
alone it can bs thoroughly acquired.
There are no more Latin tbsmss, no
moro Latin vsrses, ana, might almost
say. no mere Latin compositions. have
seen the themes and exercises Of some of
the students. They were simply lament
sbls. 10 IL clear that their Latin will
nsysr help thsm to write French with
proprssty, unless they have the gift
materially, to undsrstsna the Latinisms
of our clsssis twritsrs, which, after all,
would only be Q little gain out of all pro-
portion with the cost.
Therefore, they lose their time, since
they waste IL by vainly attempting to
learn language which, even n acquired.
would be almost useless. Now all this
time would be better employed; do not
say I'm TIE study OF the living Languages
or Of natural sciences and geography, be-
cause that is evident bat In games,
gymnastics. and In the handling OF car
psnters' to3is. Paris Figaro.