The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1905-07-14
USES OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE.
A Short Talk With the Students of
the High School.

A Short Talk With the Students of
the High School.
This article is written for the
thoughtful consideration Of the young
Of the young people who shall attend
the Sherman county high school next
year-a sort OF heart-tO-heart talk
on a subject worth while. 1t is ac-
casioned by the fact that last year
there wasn't a single class, not a
single student, in the Sherman county
high school, studying the latin Ian
uage.
1t seems that the young students
reasoned thus: Latin is a dead"
language, and is therefore Of no ben
eft; we will study German, which is
modern and useful
That sounds very reasonable, espe-
cially when one allows his argument
to stop at that conclusion
Taking that argument as true, then
we may say that studing anything
dead is prohUess. The moon is a
dead world; and there are a thOus-
and other dead worlds floating about
in space Astronomers study them,
and have written volumes about
them They help to explain the uni
verse, and give US q key to what the
earth may some day be.
Much Of geology is a dead" study,
for it treats Of the structure and min
eral constitution and history Of the
globe. The governments Of the earth
have spent millions in uncOvering
dead Troy, Herculaneum, and other
ancient and buried cities.
We study dead men and wonder
about death itself. A squadron Of
the United States navy is today bring
ing the body Of Paul Jones from
France to America He is dead and
has been for many generations. In
fact there is something solemn and
interesting about every thing we call
dead. Crystals, ordinarily dead, are
thought to have life and grow. The
boundary between life and death is
a varying shadow.
After this little reflection, viii you
not, my young friends, relinquish
your hasty conclusion2
But the Latin language is not near
so dead as some Of the things have
spoken OF, and it s daily more useful
than most Of them.
Not a day goes by that you don't
use il on your associates Maybe half
the words you use have grown out Of
Latin, at least a good per cent have.
You say you have confidence in your
friends2 What is confidence but
Latin con- together or with, and
''hdes," faith You call your high
school principal, professor" do yOu2
not knowing the significant Latin
words use use. If you are unused to
a Latin lexicon, look in the dfctiOn-
airy, and see what you have been
saying all this time.
These are only two examples out
Of a thousand that might be given
And you say that I have lost three
years Of my life in trying to know
something OF this dead language and
its vocabulary We are all infants
in English until we feel and know
the spirit Of the words We use.
The study Of Latin itself discipIines
the mind, enlarges our conception Of
literature, schools US in the logic OF
the lenses; so that we can overlook
the field Of written and spoken Ian
guage and declare it in a measure
our own possession by right Of per
sonaI conquest
The French words which have been
on the native English stock
are, with few exceptions, also derived
from the Latin, and when added to
the almost equal number which have
come directly from that Language,
they make perhaps fOur-hfths Of all
our borrowed words. In most literary
works Of the last two Ocenturies. the
foreign element is certainly larger
than the Saxon
Moreover, IL cannot be gainssidt
that II a student IS to know any sub
Jet OF study. say English, he must
certainly know its constituent parts /
Otherwise his reputed knowledge IS |
J. farce and a travesty upon educa- |
l1n-
An student NJ EofF, the latin ana
the German languages viii tell you
that from the standpoint Of English /
the Latin is much more 1
afuable than German
Study Latin, therefore, young stud !
ent and don't be afraid because II is /
dead and has the reputation Of an /
0d0r-
H W STEWART.
An things come to him who waits /
except the expected remittance.