Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-11-29
WITH THE
HIGH SCHOOL.
CLASSICS
By MARGARET BOYD
% by Margaret Boyd.)

% by Margaret Boyd.)
81 can never rightly know the mean
ing O. what hear at church, only q
bit here and there."-Silas Mariner.
There are two main reasons why the
nearer may not understand the mean
ing of what he hears at church or else
where: the thought may be complex
one, or the words used may be un-
known to the hearer. 1t 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
that it is as definite a 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 to 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
knew enough to be able to read the
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 we're 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 find, one of only
half dozen lines. The words in it were
of the simplest, and he smiled trium-
phantly as he read the last sentence,
which stated that the governors eff
forts had been futile. The teacher
asked him the meaning of futile" He
said that was easy, everybody knew
what futile meant, but he couldn't just
express it. The teacher then asked
him whether the governor succeeded
or failed in his attempt, and he had
no idea. The word futile was familiar
| in sound; but quite without meaning
to him. Because he knew the sound
Of the word, he had assumed that he
knew the meaning. The same thing is
true of surprisingly large number Of
the words we hear and use.
"Such is the strength with which
population shoots In that part Of the
world, that, state the numbers as high
as we will, whilst the dispute con-
tinues, the exaggeration ends."-Speech
on generalization With America"
Less than century and half ago,
when Burke made this statment in
parliament, he feared he would be ac-
cused of exaggeration when he stated
the population of the colonies as two
and half millions; now the popula-
tion of the United States is 10000, 900
100000 of which have been added
during the last quarter century.
A quarter of a century ago, before
the last forty millions were added to
our population, excessive wealth and
excessive poverty were practically I'M
known. Both of these always tend to
increase as the population increases.
Back in those days every village and
town contained dozens of vacant lots,
and great commons where the village
cows grazed and where the circus an
nually pitched it's tents. Houses in
those days, were close enough together
for company, and far enough apart for
privacys Children had plenty of space
for baseball games; plenty of woods
in which to go wild-fowering and nut
/ ting; plenty of clean streams in which
to chase crawfish and minnows.
The last forty millions have changed
all that. Vacant lots are becoming
j fewer each year; people in towns and
villages no longer keep cows, because
! 1t is too hard to find pasturage for
! them; wild flowers are becoming SO
j scarce that we no longer encourage
/ children to pick them; nut trees have
been cut off to such an extent that
a boy is fortunate to 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 sound one. 1t is, therefore,
well to consider that the sources of
j wealth are labor, soil, water power,
| timber, minerals and fisheries. In
creased population increases only one
Of these factors of national wealth
labor 1t uses up the natural fertility
of the, soil, the timber, minerals and
i fish more quickly than nature can re-
/ place them. Increased population
brings about increased exploitation OF
the natural resources of the country
and thus brings about an appearance
of increasing prosperity, while all the
time cutting away the foundation on
which prosperity rests.
The ultimate result of a rapidly
shooting population is a crowded coun-
try such as China now is. The next
forty millions will not crowd us as
badly as China is crowded; but it will
crowd US altogether too much for com
fort. 1t seems high time for us to
| realize that an increased population is