The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-06-10


to him. The Germans have a noble
language and a noble literature, and
the study has been. of lncalculable
value to him In cultural and dis
ciplinary sense; but for immediate
use and contact in a practical way
with the business world, as rule,
1T is OF no more value TO him than
history, or botany, or bench work.
All these subjects in the school
train for general efficiency. They are
not necessarily intended to put u
immediate practical use. But in the
large sense of the word these subjects
are immensely practical Thinking
goes before doing, and any subject
that teaches the young man or the
young woman to concentrate, to think
logically and accurately is a practical
subject.
Subjects Give Impetus.
II remember the squirrel rife that
used to stand in the corner of the
kitchen in the old country home; the
rifle with the curly maple stock.
worked fine as violin; the rifle with
the wonderful set lock and hair trig
ger and heavy octogon barrel with
sights as fine as needle; the patch
box" with silver plated cover set in
the stock; the gun that was always
kept oiled like clock, the bore so
clean that you could feel the ram
rod turn round in your fingers when
the soft lead of the bullet caught the
twist of the crease-the crease that
sped the bullet true.
II have seen the hired man. when
some magnificent red-tailed hawk had
mounted like proud shield crest on
rider rail half way down the fence
of the old eighty" cock the hamm er
and set the lock, and with just the
faintest touch of the hair trigger
speed one of those shining bullets
straight and swift and sure against
the shoulder of that far-off monarch
yes, straight through the body; and
then | have seen that magnificent
embodiment of proud life collapse and
tumble into just a loose mass of
feathers; for the crease had kept til ,
bullet true to the mark.
These subjects that we learn in
school, these subjects that seem SO
little practical, are the things that
give the crease to the mental rifle
clear insight, and mental grip, and
logical certainty.
ut is no just argument against them
that you can't put them into imme-
date practical use. 1t is no argument
against the study of German. that you
can't speak it with fiuency when you
are through. If you want to learn &c
steak it for comm ercial purposes, go
into a German family where you have
to speak it; learn 1t as the German
child does; learn it by contact. by
imitation, by absorption; but don't
call that education. A man may
speak a dozen languages with readi
ness and still be uneducated Such
fluency may be only echo-work.
81 know a beautiful ravine where
the oak trees shoulder mp the hills
and mingle their branches in the
There is hill stream that
starts from spring hundred feet
sLove, as cold as ice. and as bright.
1t sparkles down stony Lodges that
are cool and ferny, where the cat
bird sprays his wings. There is
clear echo in that glen.
If you stand below and call, the
sound is echoed from one hill, and
in a moment is caught and repeated
from the other. stood there ore
day. and it was all so like what
Bryant wrote that / said cloud: ~The
groves were Gods first temples, and
from one. side came back, were Coils
first temples and then from the other
came Gods first temples
Zone day took my camera there
and flashed the shutter: and when
put the plate in the bath in the dark
room and held it to the red light,
behold. had caught the glen. Every
item was there, repeated and retain
ed, the oaks, the moss on the banks.
the hawks nest in the tree top, the
very wrinkles in the water.
"The human mind is sounding
board, sensitive plate, ready to
catch impressions, prompt to send
them back. Almost unconsciously
with little effort, language may he
learned by the echo process. But
that is not education. 1t adds litt,e
t. mental power 1t is the earnes:
concentration and directed effort that
gives the mental rife crease; and If
you have rightly studied the syntax
and literature of the German Ian
guage. or any other language in
your school course, you have gained
to degree a certainty of mental
grasp and appreciation that is meal
culsbly beyond all immediate CONNER
ciaI values of shop conversation.
The Results are There.
"Study your modern languages;
study your history and your sciences,
for by them you are gaining daily
certainty and power. They are vslu-
able. indeed. for their very facts, but
it is no argument against them that
YOU forget some of those facts in
later years. In your athletic train
ing you use the punching bag AMI
the Indian clubs and the dumb bells.
But when your practise in gymnastics
is done you can throw these tnstru-
ments into the junk heap without
serious loss. Your muscles have been
tougtened and your physical frame
has been frightened. You have the
physical results. And when you are
done with your mental studies, your
paradigms and rules and formulate. Il
needs be. may fall away like the pine
scaffolding on which the workman
stands while the walls are being
built. In truth. there is no need that