Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-06
THE GOWNSMAN
The unIversAI Tool

people is the means by which all other things
are reached. Such language is what
Bacon would have called in learn% Latin
which we will offer translated--the ladder
OF the mind, what We may call more prac
tically the universal tool.
THINK Of tool which, in the matter Of
l. wood working alone, will chop and saw
aud plane. cut down a tree or sharpen
lead pencil. hew out the stem Of giant
ship or carve the delicate ornamentation Of
n jewel case or portrait in statuary. II
any one possessed so universal o tool for
wood working. how carefully he would prize
it and keep it sharp and bright. how anxious
he would be not to blunt it by misuse or
let it rest in neglect And how eager he
might be to learn how properly to use it,
Now such a tool precisely is our English
tongue; for none can deny its power and
versatility, its deicacy and expressiveness
on the lips Of those who have made it
famous and in the writings of such as have
thought the highest thoughts aud expressed
the most significant ideas by this most
1.-THE, adaptable and competent means.
ITO RETURN to our universal tool obvi
l. ously he who would use it must be taught
how and prcferably-a thing not always
observed--by somebody who knows how to
use it himself. An Office boy may pick
his teeth with Doctors lsncet-that is not
the purpose of lancets. Or a soldier may
toast his bread on the point of his bayonet-
that is not the accepted use, however we
may prefer it, of bayonets And our uni
versal tool of language. from the possession
of it more or less imperfectly by each and
all Of US and the extraordinary as well as
the ordinary uses to which it can be put.
is commonly neglected and outrageously
misused. Language was not given to man
kind to swear in /; the Gownsman has seen
a monkey swear at the "Zoo'-to accept
our American clipping Of two long words
swear, however inarticulately, with the ad-
vantage that he took no name OF heathen
god or heather man In vain. Nor was
language given us merely to chatter In. The
Gownsman---to return to the 'Zoo'-bas
found in the animated interchange Of
screeches between, cockatoos and macaws
and in the cackle of water fowl quite as
much significance as ,a an afternoon tea ls
likely to afford him.
T ANGUAGE is veritably the universal
IL tool. for without it we can acquire moth
ing else. Language is the beginning OF
education without il there is difficulty in
making known our creature wants; with
It and in proportion to our command OF 1t,
we can rank with those who lead, those
who know and those who achieve. In a
small way, your tongue will inevitably place
you or betray you for dialect, in lntona j.
ton il not always in word and phrase, Is
more persistent than the superfcalities of
social disguise; and he who knows can tell
whether you are Of the south or of New
England, of London town, where the aitches
halt, or Of the banks of Bonnie Doom :;
whether you came of those whose speech is
gentle or il you learned to scream and
shout your opinions under the disadvan-
tages of bringing up in the purlieus.
A REGIMENTS about the relative merits
"A Of this language or that are generally
idle. as they lead nowhere. Italian is beau
tifnlly musical. French marveously clear
and simple, every lesson in Latin is a
lesson in logic and forcible as well as
cultural, are several Of the languages of the
north But what matters 1t unless each
be fully significant and capable, above all
other considerations, of conveying adequate
" the thoughts, the civilization, the arts
and letters of the people who speak it. Our
English is not without its shortcomings,
chief among them the wide divergence be-
tween our actual speech and the signs
which represent it in writing. We need
more pronouns and We are sorry to have
lost that primitive power of linking word
with word, although in the loss we have
escaped much of the ponderosity Of modern
Germany, especially as scientifically com =
bounded But when all has been said, in
English. the tool we'll employed, we have
vigorous, supple medium of expression,
omen to the acceptance of new forms OF
speech, easily adjustable through that
safety valve. slang, to extension and sim
pli6cation. while yet tenacious of the ira
ditions Of a distinguished and honorable
past,
A s TO this universal tool, then. our Eng
"A lish. the Gownsman holds very simple
creed. He believes in the kings English,
| coming up through the ages from wells, not
always undefled. but running clear and free
| with many a tributary as it has broadened
| down to us. This is the English Of Chaucer
our Chaucer, our Shakespeare, our Dryden
| and Wordsworth, who is equally ours. The
! Gowpsmap Believes also in the Presidents
| English. the English Of Washington, Of
Lincoln, the contemporary English of oul
Roosevelt, our Taft, the admirable English
| of our President Wilson. For that Eng
Iish. borne on the great contributory food
of the language as we speak it in America
| i. of as unquestoned pedigree and pos
| sessed Of as inherent an hereditary righi
| as the speech of the Englishman of today
! Here in America we do not speak the Eng
| lish language with an intonation, phrase
| ology and vocabulary precisely that Of thu
| Londoner of today. We speak it better thar
the cockney, and in many respects we do no
depart from the norm-if there is any suci
thing-as widely as do the people of Edin
burgh, Dublin or Sydney.
| GOOD English is not English tied to th
" rules which supposedly governed Add
son in the writing of the Spectator. Gooc
English is that speech which is in genera
acceptance among cultivated people to .th
English manner born, whether in London
New York or Calcutta, the speech whicl
represents our civilization, our ideas ant
our aspirations whether British or Amer.
lean. the speech in which is written ou
precious literature of the English tongue
The Gownsman knows that it is the lack o
communication which induces major differ
ences in speech and that minor difference
do not develop into new languages. Where