The Progressive West Virginian. [volume] (Williamson, W. Va.) 1911-1913, 1912-12-12
pnd most expressive tongue now


ind most expressive tongue now
known to man
We West Virginians do not speak
the English spoken In modern Eng
land, 9with its cumbrous Latinized
Johnsonian forms, nor do we think in
It; but we use predominantly the
speech handed down to us by the men
who rallied around Elizabeth, who
gathered at the call OF King James l..
and gave to the world that priceless
monument OF simple, straight.spoken
lucid English aech--the King James
version OF the , ly Bible; OF the men
who fell into rank at the word, of OF
iver Gromw ell. and who made Mt Ri
BILE the moral statute-book OF the man
OF Britain. and then forever OF the
English-speaking races OF the earth.
1t Is as Moses Coyt Tyler has so
aptly said The history of our Ian.
guage, like our literature, may be
traced back from the present hour, as
1t recedes along the track OF our Ma
uonal life, through the early days OF
the Republic, through Ave generations
OF Colonial existence, until, In the first
decade OF the seventeenth century, II
ID merged in It's splendid parentage
the spoken and written speech OF Tu.
dor England. This birth epoch OF the
tongue we talk and write was one OF
splendor, 1t was amidst the full flow.
ering magnlficance OF the Elizabethan
time. a golden age, whose creative vi.
tality, whose superb fruitage reached
forward and cast their glory across
the entire generation succeeding the
death OF Elizabeth herself. The first
words OF English speech upon this
continent were heard along the wash.
Ing waters of the James River, where
It mixes and is lost among the salty
tides OF the Chesapeake, at the very
time when the armament OF English
thought and written and spoken speech
were all ablaze with the light OF her
full-orbed and most wonderful writer's,
the wits, the dramattsts, the scholars,
orators. singers, philosophers, who
formed that Incompatible group OF
titanic men gathered around the gilt
tering Tudor court during the earlier
years OF the seventeenth century:
when London had become a splendid
and opulent capital. when the very
air Of London must have become cleo
trio with the daily words OF those i'm.
mortals whose casual talk upon the
pavement by the curb side was coin
age Of speech richer. more virile
more expressive, than has been known
on this planet since the great days Of
Athenian poetry. eloquence and mirth.
1t was the period OF the renaissance
OF the English tongue.
1t Is this language of the Elizabeth I
an times which we Americans more
than any other portion OF the English
speaking races, and we West Virgin
ians above all others In the Nation, in
our daily intercourse have preserved
among our mountains and our valleys
as vital. living tongue.
We speak the tongue OF Shake
speare, OF Milton. Of King James; we
have never taken on the burdens OF
the ponderous scholarship OF DR.. JohnaI
son and the school that follow him
Our West Virginia homes and
and mouths are full OF the expressive
words, the ancient forms, the telling
idioms and simple diction OF the six
teenth century. when men thought I
straight. spoke straight and as fear.
lessly put into deeds their thoughts
and words.
Thus, ] do not err when | declare
that among the people of the earth |
and OF this Nation you man and WON
en- OF Upshur, and OF all W est Virginia
are chosen people, and, marked for
a great destiny. are set especially |
apart
inherited Distinguished Ancestry.
BY your inheritance you are beyond
al others in this Nation distinguished
by the fact that Massachusetts and
Virginia. Colonial AmericR.a most ia. /