Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-12-09
silence. All that you retrench on the
noise you will gain in force.

noise you Will gain in force.
r = y
These reflections lead us to a neigh
boring subject, very worthy also to
occupy our attention. | wish to speak
of that which could be called exag-
geration of language. When one stu
dies the people of one country, one no.
tees among them differences of tenn
permanent of which the language bears
traces. Here the population is rath-
err phlegmatic and calm; it employs
diminutives, and heightened words.
Elsewhere the temperaments are well
balanced; we hear the word exactly
adapted to the thing. But farther
effect Of the sun, the air, the wine,
perhaps a warmer blood flows in the
veins; they have their heads close to
their bonnets" and expression runs
to extremes; superlatives enamel the
language, and to say the most simple
things they use the strongest terms.
If the manner of language varies
according to climates, it differs also
according to the different epochs.
Compare the language written and
spoken in these times with that Of
certain other periods in our history.
Under the ancient regime they spoke
differently from the time Of the revo-
luton, and we have not the same lam
guage used by men of 1890, of 184S,
or the Second Empire In general the
language has a simpler form now;
we have no more wigs; we do not sit
A-v~ tO A-IA~ 1aA. 49,, fpr A,,k 800 1t--
differentiates us from almost all our
ancestors. our nervousness. the souroe
Of our exaggeratiOns.
Under these excited nervous sys-
tens; a little siekly-and God knows
that to be nervous is no longer a
privilege belonging to the aristocracy
words do not produce the same eff.
foot as on the normal man. And, IN
inverse ratio, to the nervous man, the
term simple does not suff1ce when he
seeks to explain what he feels. In
ordinary life, In public life, in litexa.
ture and in the theatre the calm and
sober language has given place to an
excessive violence. The means
which novelists and comedians have
81 Employed to galvanize public mind
and force Its attention. finds itself
at the rudimentary state In our most
ordinary conversations, in the epistol.
airy style, and, above all, in the pole
mic. Our of language are
to those of the calm and imposing
men what our writing is compared
with that of our fathers. They blame
1t to steel pens. If that were only
true!
The geese will save us then. But
the evil lies deeper and Is in our
selves. We have the writings Of per-
tur @ and disordered ones, while the
peAs OF our forefathers traced over
paper in surer and more r~eposeful
manner Here we are facing one OF
the results of that modern life which
Is so complex and which
our energy to such a terrible degree.
1t leaves us impatient, breathless and
in perpetual trepidation. Our litera-
ture, like our language, feels 1t and
betrays us. From the effect let US
return to the source and understand
the warning thus given us. What
good can come of that habit OF exag-
geration Of ones language? Unfaith-
full interpreters of our own impress
sions, we canno help but bend the
spirit of our fellow-men and our own
by our eXaggerations. People who
continually exaggerate cease to I'M
derstand each other. The result OF
Incorporate speech is irritation OF
dispositions, violent and sterile dis
cussions, precipitate judgments with
out bounds and the gravest excesses
In education and social relations.
Permit me in this appeal for simple
speech to formulate a wish whose 40
complishment would have the hap
piest result. | ask for a simple litera-
ture, not only as one of the best rem
edies for our WORKOUT souls, over
driven, wearled of eccentricities, but
also as a gauge and a source of social
union. | ask also for a simple art.
Our arts and our literature are re-
served to those privileged by fortune
and education. But, let me be well
understood l do not ask poets, novel
lists, nor artists to descend from their
heights to walk half way and content
themselves with ~mediocrity, but on
the contrary to mount still higher. 1t
Is popular, not that which pleases a
certain class of society that Is OF
common accord called popular. That
is popular which is common to all
and which unites thom. The sources
of the inspiration Of which may be
born a simple art are in the depths OF
the human heart: in the eternal reali-
ties Of life before which all are equal.
And the sources of popular language
are to be sought in the small number
of simple and strong forms such as
express the elementary sentiments
and the most powerful lines Of human
destiny. In that lie truth, grandeur
and immortality. Is there not in
such an ideal the means of infamins
the young people who. feeling the
warmth of the beautiful and sacred
fire. know pity and prefer to the dis
dainful adage, "Odi profanum vul.