The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1908-06-11
GRADUATING ESSAYS Of PUPILS
OF KINGSTREE GRADED School.
OF UP-TO-DATE INTEREST And PAPERS OF AN
HIGH ORDER OF EXCELLENCE-CON-
GUIDED NEXT week.
SUBJECTS DISCUSSED
UNUSUALLY

uS 4olI'"I'S N"S' ''
Mr. w B Brockinton, one Of the
members OF the graduating class, at
the recent commencement Of the
graded school. The subject Is,
GA UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.
Each wear has is difficulties, its
barriers. its hlndrances to progress;
and as the mind, the most wonder
tul and complicated piece of ma
chinery known, is put to work Ia
stamp out these barriers, We have as
result, an invention, Il discovery, aS
the case may be. And when the
most learned men of the age have
solved these perpleXing problems we
pass out from that century ana re-
mark what great progress has been
made and how fast We are reaching
that,
Zone far-off divine event,
10 which the whole creation moves:
Now, without a single, solitary
doubt, the greatest barrier to the
progress of mankind in this, the
, twentieth century, is the need of a
universal language.
Tie purely practical aim of such
a language is to make people who
speak different tongues understand
each other.
To any thoughtful student of af-
fairs, it is perfectly clear that as the
years 60 by, all the nations of the
elrth must inevitably become more
aud mere closely linked together in
all their interests through some one
language, which is sooner or later
destined to enclrcle the globe.
As fhe adoption of the one Ian
guage by the nations of the world
is the solution of this problem, the
question naturally arises:
Why does not one of the already
existing languages become unIver-
sal? Logically the two great classi-
cal tongues, Latin and Greek would
come up first for consideration.
For many reasons, however, they
are impossible. These languages
are so exceedingly difficult, and they
are so little calculated to fit the
needs of the common walks OF life,
that serious Investigators have long
since abandoned this idea.
Of the four modern languages:
English, French, German and ltal-
ian, the first two only hare ever been
able to entertain any hope of be-
coming international.
With regard to our own well-be-
loved mother tongue, We are told on
every hand that English is rapidly
becoming the world-lauguage. For
this destiny it is somewhat peculiar
ly fitted by its cosmopolitan vocabu-
larry and It's grammatic simplicity.
Modern English, is, as weall know.
a magnificent composite, possessing
the richest, most varied, most ex-
pressive vocabulary imaginable. 1t
is the full heir of the polished class
ical tongues, and certainly offers us
q wealth of words without compare
son among the civilized tongues of
to-day. 1t is much more easily
learned than any highly infected
language can be and it has the i'm
mense advantage over any invented
language of being the organ of a
noble literature and of a civilization
already very widely dlffused in all
parts of the globe.
What, then, are the predominant
ing factors which operate to hinder
and check the spread of English?
First and foremost, our absurd, i'm
possible, and chaotic spelling, which
makes it puzzle "to the stranger
within our gates and mystery to
the stranger beyond the seas" By
language students, of course, the ev-
olution of our spelling may be clear