The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-12
A LARGE AUDIENCE
At the Graduation observation-disclosures
Languages by Sarah McManis.

At the Graduation observation-disclosures
Languages" by Sarah McManis.
Thee High school graduation exercises
were continued at the Auditorium yester-
day afternoon, and another big audience
was present and the graduates We're the
recipients of flowers and congratulations
on the splendid manner in which they ac-
Quilted themselves Two orations were
delivered, the graduates being Sarah Nc
Manis and Jennie Bennett.
Miss McManis' subject was Romance
Languages" upon which she spoke in sub
stance as follows:
"'God, having designed man for a socia-
Bile creature, made him not only with an
inclination and under the necessity to
have fellowship with those of his own
kind but furnished him also with Ian
guage which was to be the great instru-
ment and cementer of society.'-Locke
THE Languages spoken in italy, France.
Spain Portugal and Roumania are classed
under the general head of romance lam
guages. They had a common origin and
are the immediate descendants of the
Roman tongue.
about 1873 B. C. Rome was at her height,
she was mistress of the civilized world,
as her victorious leaders had. year after
year, brought under her control rich and
powerful nations. 1t is from this time that
these languages date their beginning.
Wherever the Latin conquerors went and
more especially in Italy, Spain, France, in
parts of Switzerland and in Dacia. the
Latin language became the accepted one.
But Rome was not fated to RUE forever.
According to the history of Raynonard,
a researcher into the origin and trans
formation of the Provencal tongue, the
new language which rose from the old
was in many ways the same throughout
the centuries in which the latter had been
used. His theory also states that the new
language in a pure form is preserved in
that of the Provencal, or language of the
troubadours.
This theory is no longer considered of
any weight as it was shown to be ground
less by Cornewell Lewis. So, without
doubt, each one had its own character
istics from the very first. Some Of the
students of this subject think that the
Roman language differed in degree of pur-
ity according to the place In which and
the class by whom it was spoken. They
also consider that the corruption in one
pace might be greater than that in an
other, in consequence of the character of
the supplanted tongue. 1t is in this that
they find ample proof that the new Ian
guages were not the same.
THE number of romance languages is
recognized as being six by Diez, the great
est of romance philologists. They are
the Italian, the French the Spanish. the
Portuguese, the Provencal and the Rou-
manian. AS might be supposed. each of
these has a greater or less number of di-
alects, and it often happens that these
provincial forms can not be understood
by people living without the parts in
which they are spoken.
He who puts his best thoughts in the
richest and purest of language aids in de-
velopng the minds and spirits of his fell
low beings. There are many of these who
have given to the world great master
pieces in their mother tongue, and wheth-
er these be in Italian, French, Spanish,
Portuguese or Roumanian, they have
helped to make life more pleasant for
many"
Miss Bennett spoke on american ORA
matte Art" She said:
charlotte Lushman, the representative
woman of American drama, says of the
art: I think I love and revere all arts
equally, only putting my own first above
the others because in it l recognize the
union and elimination of all. To me it
seems as if when God conceived the world,
that was poetry; He formed it. and that
was sculpture; He colored it, and that
| was painting; and, the browning work of
all He peopled it with living beings. and
| that was the grand, living, eternal drama.
| Admiration for the artist, and love for
| the woman of spotless character, whose
| fine mind could conceive a thought sc
| grand as the foregoing. should place hel
at the head of dramatic art in America
were she not, as she was, the greatest ex-
| pOnent of it.
| ''Whie the far East in 1874 was opening
| the eyes of the drama lovers, the fal
West was preparing its pages for the writ
ing OF many names which in after years