Evening star., 1935-11-26
BY RUTH MANSFIELD.


HYDE? If so, the aforemen-
~ toned Mr.. Hyde will master
this new language-or any language
which he doesn't happen to KNOWN
about week.
A boast? Hardly, for Mr.. Hyde is
primarily a bibliophile, and bibliophiles
are among the rare species who shTn
front pages, publicity and spotlights.
Their habitat is the library, and they
can be trapped only after days of hid
ing amidst the musty atmosphere Of
rare books. This reporter cornered Mr..
Hyde in just such surroundings-the
Library of Congress, where he is delv-
ing among the criteria standards for
homesteaders for the rural resettle-
ment.
Mr. Hyde lives in Falls Church, Va
He wouldn't say Just where. If gave
you my street address I should be
bothered to death by people who want
me to translate things for them" ne
declared. THAT would make story
in itself-the number of people IL,
the world who want letter, an article
or a book translated"
Reads IceIandic, Too.
He reads Russian, Norwegian, Ice
landic, Arabic, Lithuanian, Chinese,
Finnish, Japanese, three kinds Of
Greek-oh, well, why go into that?
Just take a world map and for every
colored spot that means a country Mr..
Hyde very likely knows the language.
Just as present his work is chiefly
being done in the commoner tongue Of
Germany, for the Germans have, since
the days of Frederick the Great, gone
into resettlement problems and, with
the usual Teutonic thoroughness, writ
ten volumes on the subject. As re-
suit of Mr.. Hyde's researches our own
Government hopes to draw up some
standard for its own resettlement prof.
ectS.
Most any child can become a lin
guist, in the opinion of Mr.. Hyde, who
willingly discussed teaching methods
and revealed his own system of Ian
guage study, once the bibliophile's re-
serve was broken down. It was only
by accident that the interviewer STUN
bled upon this man who could (but
who wouldn't) lay claim to being the
Governments long distance endurance
linguist-the flagpole Kelley of the
languages. A Library official casually
mentioned that Mr.. Hyde knew prob
ably all the languages in the world.
But Mr.. Hyde was not going to be
interviewed on that subject. No, sir.
He had done ghost writing for celebri-
ties, translated foreign books, man
aged an orphan asylum and taught
school, but he had never, never been
interviewed, and he didn't intend to
be-until the conversation happened
to turn upon the subject of teaching
languages.
Indignant at Teaching Methods.
'Why should an innocent child who
hasn't done anything wrong be penal
lied by the awful formal ideas of
grammar" he asked with indigna-
tion. 1T is nothing less than crimi-
nal to teach languages by that
method. The only way to learn a
language is by reading it, like the
mother tongue. Grammar may help
after one can read the language.
1.-The proper way to teach languages
is, of course, to start with very young
children" he continued. when
child begins to show an interest in
reading story books the parents should
buy few foreign language books with
colored illustrations and leave them
around the house. The child will be-
come interested in the pictures and
the first thing you know he or she will
begin to read the book just as natur-
ally as if it were in English. Expert
ment with a Robinson Crusoe' in
French or German, but be sure that
the translation contains some colored
pictures of the type to pique the young
mind
THAT is the way learned languages
In the beginning" Mr.. Hyde explained,
his first demonstration that his teach
ing method is the right one.
Started With Four Languages
Sh4A AOAA4CAAbCI q ulk1lC WllCU
couldn't read French, German, Italian
and Spanish, the everyday languages.
My mother was a musician who had
studied under Verdi, and there were
always books in other tongues around
the house,
Mr.. Hyde was born in Winchester,
Va, but he attended the schools of
Martinsburg. w. Va. At the age of
Is, graduate of high school, he was
teaching boys older than himself in q
private academy. He taught for nine
years and then became superintendent
of an orphanage in North Carolina.
Later on, before he came to Wash
ington, Mr.. Hyde was the head of
Tennessee mountain mission school.
How about my own children?" Mr..
Hyde asks. "Well, the usual law of
averages applies to them. have three.
The oldest, a girl, is distinctly a lin
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