  By J. H. VINCENT, D.D., Superintendent of Instruction, C. L. S. C. The studies for February comprise Astronomy, English, Russian, Scandinavian, Biblical, and General Religious Literature. The best authority for the pronunciation of names of distinguished persons is “Lippincott’s Biographical Dictionary,” by Thomas. Prof. J. H. Worman writes us that the oe in Goethe is pronounced like ea in heard; th is sounded like t. In MÜlbach the Ü is like the French u. Another explanation: The White Seal lists on page 43 of the October Chautauquan are for graduates of 1882 who have two white seals, but who did not read the “White Seal Course” for 1880 and 1881, or for 1881 and 1882. On page 55 the White Seal Course indicated is for persons who have not yet graduated, and who wish to add a white seal for the current year to their diplomas. The white crystal seal is for graduates of 1882, whether they have won the white seals of 1880-82 or not. It is the design of the white crystal seal to keep the graduates in line and in sympathy with the current course of study. A student who did not take the two white seals of 1880-82, may take them, and also take the white crystal seal for 1882, or he may omit them, and take the white crystal seal for 1882. Does this throw any light? A member of the C. L. S. C. writes: “I am so happy in reading ‘Packard’s Geology.’ I have not the diagrams, nor access to them, and so I am selfish enough to wish they had been in miniature and scattered through the book. Anyway, the one picture on page 41, of the Oblong Geyser, Yellowstone Park, gave me great pleasure, for here in my cabinet I have one of these same ball-like deposits from those very hot springs, Yellowstone Park, besides two other deposits in different states of compactness, also petrified and agatized wood, and obsidian, and at our limestone quarries in Chicago I have found the fossil coral as pictured on page 63.” In reference to the use of the character “k” instead of “c” in the word Perikles, and other words, Prof. T. T. Timayenis, author of the “History of Greece,” says: “It is the custom of all scholars of the present day to reproduce as nearly as possible the sound of the Greek names as pronounced by the Greeks. To this end all Greek names beginning with ‘k’ retain that letter when translated into English, as the sound of the Greek ‘k’ is more faithfully reproduced by its equivalent ‘k.’ The idea of distorting the sound of the Greek name to such an extent as to assume to reproduce the character ‘k’ by the English ‘c’ is old, antiquated, and has been long abandoned by scholars. The rule to-day followed by scholars is as follows: Reproduce (that is to say, translate,) all Greek names into English by retaining as nearly as possible the sound of the word. This custom has always existed among the Germans. But I think it is only within the last five or six years that it has been generally accepted by scholars in England and America. I believe that the publishers of Webster’s Dictionary ought to be up with the times.” This statement of the case, may seem very bold on the part of Prof. Timayenis, but we give him the chance to express himself on the subject. To A. B.—Yes; read the best authors in fiction when you read fiction at all.... George Ebers is recent, but stands well in his chosen field, that of old Egyptian life.... Read Scott rather than Dickens. The latter is a master in caricature and in his description of English, and especially of London, low life.... The second volume of Timayenis’s Greek will be taken up in ’83. A correspondent writes from Newton, Iowa, or Missouri, or somewhere else; the postmark is so indistinct it is impossible to tell where. No name is signed, no date given; and how can I answer the question? Some one suggests a topic (an old one) for conversation, and gives the names of what he regards as the ten greatest characters of history: Moses, David, (Confucius or Alexander the Great), Julius CÆsar, Zoroaster, Paul, Mohammed, Luther, Wesley, Napoleon. In reply to a criticism on Prof. A. S. Packard’s book on “Geology,” the Professor says: “The person who writes you is mistaken. I nowhere say that the center of the earth is a burning mass. I do say, page 26, ‘The occurrence of volcanoes, and the wide-spread agency of heat or fire in former times, indicate the existence of large areas of melted rock or lava in the earth.’ I mean by this that under volcanic regions are lakes or reservoirs of melted rock. The globe in general is a solid sphere, solid at the center. This is a moderate and modern view. What your correspondent attributes to me is an old-fashioned and obsolete view. Let him refer to Dana’s ‘Geology’ for the latest views, or to Leconte’s ‘Geology’ for all fuller details than my humble attempt to excite an interest in the subject.” I am anxious to purchase a copy of the Chautauqua Assembly Herald for March, 1879, Vol. 3, No. 25, and for October, 1879, Vol. 4, No. 21, also for May, 1880, Vol. 4, No. 28. Who can help me? In response to my suggestion about reading for intellectual discipline, a correspondent says: “In the December number of The Chautauquan I noticed your item in ‘C. L. S. C. Work’ in regard to reading and re-reading certain books in the year’s course for mental discipline. I think the plan a good one, but would like to make a suggestion. I think it would be a good plan to recommend Alden’s ‘Self-Education’ to those who are taking up the studies of the first year. I got a copy of it before I joined the C. L. S. C., and, although it was one of the smallest books I ever read, yet I got more good out of it than of any other. As you advise, I read it, and re-read, and read it again, and for weeks and nearly months it was my constant companion, to be picked up in spare moments. The reason I recommend it is because there are so many members of the C. L. S. C. who have never had many educational advantages when young. To them this book is invaluable, and may be the means of helping them in their studies as it did me. To the College graduate, of course, this would be unnecessary, but to the majority of the others I think it would be of great use. I think there are too many who look upon education as knowing—accumulating knowledge—especially in this day of many books and miscellaneous reading. I think this book, if read and pondered, as you recommend, would do a vast amount of good to those who are seeking intellectual improvement.” The book referred to is Chautauqua Text-book No. 25, price 10 cents. Title, “Self-Education: What to Do and How to Do It.” Why shall not our afflicted and faithful fellow student have a hearing in The Chautauquan? Here is what she wrote last August: “If you have time, will you say for me to the members of the C. L. S. C. that a few of the women of Hot Springs, Arkansas, are trying to establish there a Woman’s Christian National Library Association? We use the word ‘National’ because it is a place of resort for the people of the entire country, because the town is in part owned by the government, and because we seek assistance from good people everywhere. The work is in no sense a local one. Probably no town exists in the country having greater need in this direction. Men visit the place by thousands annually, and find almost nothing to uplift—but saloons and gambling-dens by the score. Our ladies feel that something must be done to make things better. Our organization has been in existence eighteen months. We have about nine hundred dollars in the treasury, and one hundred volumes of books. Better than all, on July 1st Congress passed a special act allowing us to purchase a lot on the government reservation for a merely nominal sum, so that we now have one hundred feet front on the main avenue, for which we paid one hundred dollars. Upon this we propose to put up a brick building worth ten thousand dollars, to be used for a public library, reading-room, and a hall in which to give entertainments, lectures, etc. We are working hard to accomplish this result. Any help from Chautauquans, either in donations of money, however small, or in books, will be most gratefully received. Books can be sent by mail to my address, or by freight at my expense. One book from one of our class may save some young man from an hour of temptation. May I not plead for a little help in trying to bring ‘life and light’ even to Arkansas. I enclose circular. “Yours very truly, A member writes: “My horizon is very dark just now, but there is a quotation that I believe, ‘He is weak who can not weave the tangled threads of his existence, however strained, or however torn or twisted, into the great cable of purpose which moors us to our life of action.’” Members of the C. L. S. C. who desire to send geological, and mineralogical and other specimens, weighing not more than ten pounds, should send to the “Museum, Chautauqua, N. Y., care of A. K. Warren, Esq.” Members of the class of 1882, who paid all fees but did not graduate, can, by simply completing the unfinished work of their four years’ course, and reporting to the office at Plainfield, graduate with the class of 1883 or any later one. No additional fee will be required. Encourage your neighbors to take up some of the reading of the C. L. S. C. Ask them to try the book for the current month; or the Bryant or the Shakspere Course. The following are the addresses of manufacturers of badges for the C. L. S. C.: Mrs. Jay W. Speelman, Wooster, Ohio, and Henry Hart, Lockport, N. Y. A student of the C. L. S. C. writes: “I have commenced the study of Greek history, but not having a good memory I find the dates hard to retain in my mind. Will you please give a plan by which our study in this line may be made easier.” It does not make much difference whether you can remember dates or not. Link men who did great things in their proper chronological order. Know that one man who did this, followed by a few years or centuries another man who did that other great thing. Use the little Chautauqua Text-book of Greek History, No. 5. Repeat its outlines, then repeat and repeat again. Get a few facts; tell them to somebody; tell them to somebody else. Talk about them; then talk more about them. The true way to memorize is to commit to memory. When a choice volume falls into my hands I feel like calling attention of the members of the C. L. S. C. to it. Here comes a beautiful little book, with an introduction by Lyman Abbott, published by Putnam’s Sons, New York, on “How to Succeed”—in public life, as a minister, as a physician, as an engineer, as an artist, in mercantile life, as a farmer, as an inventor, and in literature. The several chapters are so many essays written by Senators Bayard and Edmunds, Drs. John Hall, Willard Parker, and Leopold Damrosch, General William Sooy Smith, W. Hamilton Gibson, Lawson Valentine, Commissioner George B. Loring, Thomas Edison, E. P. Roe, and Dr. Lyman Abbott. It is an invaluable book, and our readers will make no mistake in reading it. Price, 50 cents. When reading a book mark on the margin every word of the pronunciation of which you are not sure, and every allusion and statement you do not fully understand. Take all such words, allusions, and statements to the local circle and ask for light, or if you have no local circle send them to “Drawer 75, New Haven, Conn.,” and I will try to get light for you from stars of one magnitude or another that shine in the heavens of the C. L. S. C. Collect engravings and prints of every kind, from book-stalls, old books, illustrated papers and magazines, relating in any way to the reading of the C. L. S. C. in art, biography, history, natural science, etc. A picture scrap-book of this kind, filled with notes in your own handwriting, would grow in value with the years. Probe people on the subjects in which you are interested. Get all out of them you can; and you can always get something out of everybody. Gilbert M. Tucker, in The North American Review for January, speaks of “American English” in this way: “It will hardly be denied in any quarter that the speech of the United States is quite unlike that of Great Britain, in the important particular that here we have no dialects. Trifling variations in pronunciation, and in the use of a few particular words, certainly exist. The Yankee ‘expects’ or ‘calculates,’ while the Virginian ‘reckons;’ the illiterate Northerner ‘claims,’ and the Southerner of similar class, by a very curious reversal of the blunder, ‘allows,’ what better educated people merely assert. The pails and pans of the world at large become ‘buckets’ when taken to Kentucky. It is ‘evening’ in Richmond, while afternoon still lingers a hundred miles due north at Washington. Vessels go into ‘docks’ on their arrival at Philadelphia, but into ‘slips’ at Mobile; they are tied up at ‘wharves’ at Boston, but to ‘piers’ at Chicago. Distances are measured by ‘squares’ in Baltimore, by ‘blocks’ in Providence. The ‘shilling’ of New York is the ‘levy’ of Pennsylvania, the ‘bit’ of San Francisco, the ‘ninepence’ of Old New England, and the ‘escalan’ of New Orleans. But put all these variations together, with such others as more careful examination might reveal, and how far short they fall of representing anything like the real dialectic differences of speech that obtain, and always have obtained, not only between the three kingdoms, but even between contiguous sections of England itself!” decorative line |
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