Omaha daily bee., 1915-12-31
Disrespectfulness
and indication of
Shiftlessness in
Absence of Rea-
sOnable Care in
Spelling and PEN
manship. F.: /: ::
By Or. CHARLES II. PARKHURsT.

o some business house with a view to
occurring a position. The name signed
WAS so blindly and blunderingly written
THAT in order to reply to my correspond
z ent I had to cut off the signature and
paste it on the return envelope. A writ
ing school is the place for such a man,
and not a business house.
1t was a small thing, bat small things
often afford the best evidence. 1t is
proverbial that straws make the best
weathervanes. A persons penmanship
need not be like copperplate, but II is
disrespectful to ones correspondent, and
distinct symptom Of certain kind Of
shiftlessness. not to shape ones words
in a way to make them at least fairly
legible.
Bad spelling is another symptom, point
ing in the same direction. Our language
is more difficult than some in that re-
spect-more so than the German, for
example-but 1t is no more pardonable
for an American to write with a brogue
than II is to speak with. a brogue. Besides
that, dictionaries are cheap, and IL one
needs an photographic crutch he can
get ono for a few cents and conceal his
deficiency, even IL he is not a scholar
enough to correct 1t.
Lame spelling and ambiguous chirog-
\ Aphy are mild form of illiteracy, and
bAre scarcely eXcusable in these days of
large opportunity Liberal allowance
should be made for such immigrants as
lave come from regions where opportun-
lies are moro meagre. But even So
whether native or alien. one has not at
taired the ideal standard of Americanism
till Ec CAP read English intelligently and
VIZ tc /. with respectable accuracy.
This matter of illiteracy and the extent
TO which il prcYailo in our Country is a
serious ono. Mir. Winthrop Talbot. who
las been employed b. our government
10 study into the matter. reports that
We have 5000 900 iliterates and many
million more that arc practically such.
Giving young fellow just sufficient in
struction in our language to enable him
to get a job is not teaching him English.
In fact. II s the most direct way OF en-
couragng him to be Superficial.
Titcracy apd popular sqyernment, are
incompatible. Our individual life REQUIRES
to be bound up u the life.of our country,
which It cannot be unless we think and
read in our countrys vernacular. To be
American consists in large part in being
borne along in the current of national
Ideas, national affections and aspirations.
ane those must he interpreted to us
through the medium OF the nation Ian
guccc.
such as have not attained to this are
segregated into communities apart, and
have not been di-ested by the national
life, ana not become assimilated into
clements constituent Of the body polite.
They are in America, but not of it. They
subsist on the nations life, but without
becoming forces contributory to that lie;
Fhey are members of the order of civic
Vbarasites, feeding on the body that they
ought themselves to help feed. Closely
connected with that is another matter
that can properly be brought within the
compass of this article and which has
TO do with college students ignorance OF
past and current events, especially the
latter
II is suggested by what has recently
been developed by a certain college pro-
fessor upon examining members Of his
class concerning the location OF places
that have been made important and con-
spicuous by events in the European war.
One such place, which has been for
months the scene Of sharp struggles be-
tween the warning powers. and which has
had emphatic attention called TO II in al
most every issue of the daily papers
since September, not a single member or
his class could geographically locate.
Il is safe to conclude that that entire
class OF collegians knows very little
about what has been going on in Europe
during the last sixteen months. It's mem
bers have probably been studying Roman
and Greek history OF the ante-Christian
age. and familiarizlng themselves with
the languages and literature OF that
period. but as indifferent, as though resi-
dents OF another planet, to events OF a
magnitude and seriousness that eclipse
anything they can discover in classic
Dfecords
Without speaking disparagingly OF the
value OF a knowledge OF the events that
are past, no matter how long past. yet
there is an educating significance in
studying history that is in the making
that there is not in studying history
that is made and finished and that. In
one sense of the word. is dead and gone
Those students, and all students, are
today in the midst of tremendously live
world. It's historic processes are laid
bare before their very eyes. They can
hear the clanking of the machinery OF
events, and it is difficult TO conceive how
a mind that is really a student mind ca
face the great tragedy. more immense
than the combined tragedies OF all the
dramatists. and not succumb to its educa-
tional and inspirationai pressure.
And these students are expected soon
10 quit the retirement OF college life and
enter into the great world and become
part of II. But what can such recluses
as the one described know about the
great world? The study Of the ologies
has been the means perhaps OF accumu,
lating for them a certain amount OF gray
matter and they will need II; but how
about the adaptation OF that gray matter
a TO the actual conditions and requirements
OF the stage upon which they are ex-
tpectihg to play a role?
This war Is calculated to develop
u crop Of great men. made such by the
magnitude and intense vitality OF the
times In which their mental and moral
possibilities are getting their impulse and
training. and those university boys, n
they want % be reckOned among the
magnates, had better spend a part OF
a "a