The evening times., 1899-02-06

Nenu ana current OF moueTn lie anu tiouGhli
Of course, all reflection of this kind is
more or less idle, since no one can pos
sibly foretell what the developments of the
future may be. This one thing we do
know, however, that they will be in line
with those of the past, in some way or
other Thus far in the worlds history
nothing has happened which cannot be ac-
counted for by natural laws; and there
are certain tendencies observable in the
development of nations which can be reck-
oned on to lead to certain more or less
definite results. Thus, whenever the ideal
in church or state has been obscured by
greed for personal gain, a reformer has al
ways arisen TO lead the people back to
more sane and healthy life. 1t is abso-
lutely certain that any excess in nation
as in an individual will be followed by
reaction, and it is equally sure that
this excess will not be exactly repeated.
Laws remain the same; their workings
are never twice alike in detail. Certain
great principles are being slowly worked
out in the life of the race, but none of US
can see just what the next step will be.
The progress of mankind is like journey
toward a mountain: one may always see
the mountain in the distance, but cannot
possibly see all the ravines, and ridges,
and gullies, and rivers which must be
crossed before reaching it.
So, while we may be reasonably sure
that the life of the thirtieth century will
be more intelligent and on higher moral
level than that of today, it is impossible
to say just where the improvements will
be made. And as regards the particular
question of language, while it cannot be
known just what the literature of the
future will be. there are two or three
things of which one may be reasonably
sure.
One is that, instead of growing more
simple as the writer of the above para
graph suggests, the evolution of language
will be in the other direction. The men of
the future will have many more ideas to
express than We have. and the language
which they use will have TO be consider
ably richer than ours in both words and
phrases. The Englishman has a far
greater vocabulary than the South Sea
Islander. Another thing should be taken
ment of all tongues by the absorption of
words from each other, and from dead
languages. The English language at
present contains many words from the
dialect of half-savage tribes which will
eventually become extinct. When one of
these tribes evolved term which exact
ly expressed a given idea. the civilized
Englishman adopted it without delay, and
when he went home to his own people he
carried that word with him. fairly
good example of this is the word 'hurri-
cane" originally the Carib "ouragan." ="
This was made .'huracan" by the Span
lard. and Anglicized in its present form.
Now. the Carib language is very nearly
extinct but that word. and several others
descriptive of objects in the West Indies,
are part of our speech. II English is TO
be the language of the future, il will
gradually incorporate into itself the best
of all others; if not, some other language
will take the best of English, as we have
done with Latin and Greek. In either
case. the people of the thirtieth century
viii have an infinitely rich and flexible
vocabulary.
Another thing which may be stated al
most with certainty is that poetry viii not
disappear in the evolution OF literature.
! lis form viii change. but the thing itself
viii remain. There is not an art which
. we have today which cannot be traced
! hack 10 the primitive savage. He had his
music: and music has never disappeared
/ from the world. He had his literature
handed down in the form of oral tradi-
tions: and we have our histories and our
sagas just as he had He created his art
painted on skins or scratched on rocks;
/ and We have ours. painted on canvas and
/ carved in marble None of his artistic
pleasures have disappeared; they have been
refined and intensified in their power. The
reason why a great poem appeals TO man
kind lies very deep in human conscious
ness. 1t unites the subtle power of rhythm
with the highest perfection in word-paint
ing. II is sublimated thought. 1t is de-
yelopment of the chant OF the aboriginal
medicine-man; and though the poets of
scme far distant time may come to regard
the myths evolved b. primitive priests
and soothsayers, they will have their poet
and he will be a legitimate descendant of
our Shakespeare, for all that. There is a
art and literature which is never broken
The common man may not be the heir of
all the ages, but the artist is.