The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-06-11

ing that moves in the world today
that is not Greek in origin" And
again in the words Of Freeman:
''The center Of our studies,
The goal Of our thoughts,
Tho point TO which all our paths lead,
Ana tn point from which
All our paths start again
i 70 be found in Rome and her abid-
ing power"
The study Of the classics. wonderful
a they are, has not been much Of a
success in the past. Many a person
who has spent the years Of his youth
in the compulsory study Of Latin and
Greek has never entered into the liv-
ing spirit Of the classical writings.
has never felt his heart warm with
wider sympathies. To such a ore
classical literature mas not been a
means Of liberal education But 10
the few who do thus enter into com
muniOn with some Of the greatest Of
human spirits that literature is truly
liberalizing.
But what is the study Of Latin for
| in the twentieth century? Not for
some peculiar discipline Of the mind
by grinding out decIensions and con-
| jupations; not for getting a Romans
thoughts and putting them into mon
grei, translation English. Latin TO-
| day IS for helping the student to get
a consciousness Of language. Latin
| is Il system for putting ideas across.
| The English tongue is another sys-
| TEN. In Latin one finds a different
system and the one best for a COM
| parison with his own
The student Of today picks up in
| his daily life some chemistry and some
| physics; but he studies these sciences
| if he is to know the laws of the COM
| position of bodies or the resolution IF
| forces. Language is very important
science. Why should students ma
! tive tongue be left entirely to imita-
| ton if hesis to be a master in it?
The student today studies Latin
that his mother tongue and the great
| Romance languages may be made
alive. French says, eff the English
language were to be divided into
hundred parts, forty-fve of them
|
as now some prefer to call them;
fOrUy-fve Latin Cincluding, of course,
the Latin which has come to US thru
the French); five perhaps would be
| Greek. We should in this way nave
allotted ninety-fve parts. leaving the
other five to be divided among all the
other languages which have made
their small contribution to the vocab-
ulary of our English tongue" The
Anglo-SaXon is the basis of the Eng
lish language; it is the warp while
the Latin is the wool. Eighty-seven
per cent of the meaningful words of
the declaration of independence have
their roots in the Latin. The verbs
sto and facio are each the source of
more than two hundred English words.
The Latin word con with it's forms
com, col, co, cor. begin the words of
more than fifty pages of Webster s
Unabridged, and Latin in helps de-
termine the meaning of over sixty
pages of words.
Latin is especially for the use OF
English. It. is for matching Cicero
invectives. Virgil's lines with good
effective English. 1t is not for talk
ing Latin, but for talking English
Boys and girls need Latin for the
habit of work it gives, the habit of
steady, continuous application. It is
not so much mental discipline as
mental habit that has made classical
students marked men in all callings
DR.. John H. Finley in an address
before meeting of the National Ed
ucational Association, struck a deeper
note in arguing for the classics. He
quoted a book on Roman agriculture
by a Virginia farmer, who is also a
prominent railway president, as say,
ing that the Romans achieved THEN
results by thoroughness and patience
"The foundation of their agriculture,
it says, twas the fallow." In educa.
ton, as in agriculture, we should
pillow deep, clear the ground anc
, strengthen it richly. And the elias
sics furnish the best plows for mental
, soil that is not too shallow In short
there is a time to sow, to SOW the
, seed for the special crop that you
want; but it is after you have ploweC
the field. There is a time to special
ize, but it is after you have thorough.
ly prepared the mind by its blowing
= discipline.
I The truth is that both scientific anc
. cultural courses are valuable. The
problem is an individual one, related
D to the purpose and future of the stud
, ent
Friends, fellow-students, member:
of the faculty and low-classmates
+ it is my privilege to represent m!
class on this occasion, and | do Sc
= with keen appreciation of the re
lations we have so long sustained t.
p each other, and of the world of affair
into which we are about to enter
, companions for twelve years-twelv,