The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-12-14
WITH THE
HIGH SCHOOL
CLASSICS
By MARGARET BOYD

SSSSSsSSSsSSSSSSSSSsSssSsSSSsI
&c by Margaret BoydO
- can never rightly know the mean
Ing o what hear at church, only q
bit here and thete."-Silas Mariner.
There are two main reasons why the
hearer may not understand the mean
Ing Of what he hears at church or else
where: the thought may be a complex
one. or the words used may be un-
known TO the hearer. II Is the rare
speaker rather than the usual one who
can speak simply enough TO be under
stood by his entire audience. To do
SO often requires a translation OF
thought from the speakers vocabulary
thar ii is as definite translation as
one from Latin to English
Every day, on all sides Of Us absurd
ideas and notions are being taken
from speeches and articles that seem
perfectly simple and clear 70 the
speaker or writer.
Several years ago q high school
teacher Of English and her class got
into an argument on this subject. She
assured them they did not know every
day English; they assured her they
newspapers and magazines. which was
as much as anybody needed to know.
Thereupon. the teacher challenged
them TO bring in the next day any edi-
torial article from any newspaper or
magazine, and satisfy her that they
knew the meaning Of all the words in
the article they selected
The pupils were members OF the
junior class. and Of average ability.
When the next day came, one after
another rose. read his article and
acknowledged that he didn't know
what this or that word meant Finally,
the last boy, the ablest pupil in the
class. rose. he had selected the short
est article he could ind. one OF only
half dozen lines. The words in IL were
Of the simplest, and he smiled trium-
phantly as he read the last sentence,
which stated that the governors ef-
forts had been futile. The teacher
asked him the meaning OF futile" BE
said thar was easy. everybody knew
what futile meant. bur be couldn't Just
express II. The teacher then asked
him whether the governors succeeded
or failed IN his attempt. and he had
no ldea- The word futile was familiar
In sound: bur quite without meaning
TO him. Because he Knew the sound
Of the word he had assumed thar le
knew the meaning. The same thing Is
true OF a surprisingly large number Of
the words We hear and use.
Hsuch 10 the strength with which
population shoots in that part Of the
world, that. state the numbers a. high
as ~ will. whilst the dispute con-
tinues, the exaggeration ends"-Speech
or Generalization With America"
Less than century and half ago.
wnen Burke made this statment In
parliament. he feared he would be ac-
cused Of e1aggeration when he stared
the population OF the colonies as two
and a half millions; now the popula-
tion Of the United States Is 10000. 900
10000. 600 Of which have been added
during the last quarter century.
= A quarter of a century ago. before
the last forty millions were added 10
our population. excessive wealth and
excessive poverty were practically un-
known Both Of these always tend to
t-.-..a. - -. nopuIarfor iurroa oo~
Back in those days every village and
town contained dozens Of vacant lots.
and great commons where the village
cows graxed and where the circus an
nuaIly pitched its tents Houses. In
those days. were close enough together
Tor company. and far enough apart for
privacy. Children had plenty OF space
for baseball games; plenty OF woods
in which to 20 wild-howering and nut
ting: plenty OF clean streams in which
10 chase crawfish and minnows.
The last forty millions have changed
all that. Vacant lots are becoming
fewer each year; people In towns and
villages no longer keep cows because
IL is too hard TO find pasturage for
them; Wild flowers are becoming 50
scarce that We no longer encourage
children TO pick them; nut trees have
been cut on TO such an extent thar
a boy is fortunate 20 gather a quart
where a boy Of the earlier day could
have gathered bushels
With the increase In population has
come a tremendous increase In our
dollar and cents wealth. and few peo-
pie ever stop TO think whether this In
crease is a sound one II Is therefore.
well to consider that the sources Of
wealth are labor. soil. water power.
timber. minerals and fisheries. In
creased population increases only ono
Of these factors OF national wealth
hbor. II uses up the natural fertility
Of the soil. the timber, minerals and
Ash more quickly than nature can 70
place them Increased population
brings about Increased exploitation Of
the natural resources sf the country.
and thus brings about m appearance
sf lncreaSpg prosperity. while all ths
time cutting away the foundntion On
which prosperity resfRl