Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

But the thirsty of soul soon learn to know
The moistureless froth of the social show;
The vulgar sham of the pompous feast
Where the heaviest purse is the highest priest;
The organized charity scrimped and iced,
In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ;
The smile restrained, the respectable cant,
When a friend in need is a friend in want;

Where the only aim is to keep afloat,

And a brother may drown with a cry in his throat,

O, I long for the glow of a kindly heart

And the grasp of a friendly hand,

And I'd rather live in Bohemia than in any other land.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SECTION

PROCEEDINGS

The opening meeting was held in the Lecture Hall of the Carnegie Institute at 4 p. m., June 25, the Rev. P. F. O'Brien, M. A., De Paul University, Chicago, presiding. The chairman called upon the Rev. Patrick McDermott, C. S. Sp., of Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, to read his paper entitled "Cui Bono" on the means of maintaining the value of Latin teaching in Catholic schools. One of the chief suggestions of the paper was the introduction of elementary Latin into the seventh and eighth grades of the parochial schools. An animated discussion followed, remarks being contributed by the Rev. J. A. Van Heertum, O. Pr., West De Pere, Wis., the Very Rev. Dr. Gorman, Dubuque, the Rev. J. A. Dewe, M. A., Duquesne University, the Very Rev. James A. Burns, C. S. C., Washington, D. C., who dwelt on the important agency of Latin in the development of vocations, and the Very Rev. J. F. Green, O. S. A., of Chicago, who remarked that some schools had already introduced Latin in the grades, but that the success had not been great, owing to defects in teaching. At the close of the discussion the chairman, on the motion of Father John Van Heertum, seconded by Fr. Green, named as a committee to communicate with the Bishops and with the Parish School Department on the advisability of teaching Latin in the seventh and eighth grades, the following: Revs. J. F. Green, O. S. A., John A. Van Heertum, O. Pr., D. M. Gorman, LL. D., P. F. McDermott, C. S. Sp., James A. Burns, C. S. C. Dr. Gorman moved and Fr. Green seconded a motion that Fr. McDermott's paper be printed as a separate bulletin and distributed before this Committee began its work. The matter was suggested by Fr. Hehir to be first referred to the General Executive Committee for approval. Amendment carried.

The second meeting was also held in the Lecture Hall of the Carnegie Institute, Father O'Brien, Chairman of the Section, presiding. Amongst those present was Right Rev. Dennis J. O'Connell, Bishop of Richmond. A paper on "The Cultivation of the Literary Sense" was read by Rev. Patrick J. Carroll, C. S. C., Notre Dame University. Father Carroll's paper, which was strictly pedagogical, hit off the points he wished to impress admirably. The Rev. Joseph A. Dewe, M. A., keenly pointed out that in the literary efforts as well as in the humdrum conversation of the American boy you can rarely find a figure of speech. A spirited argument took place between the writer of the paper and Father Muntsch, S. J., over the insertion of Guy De Maupassant's name in a list of selected readings. The Rev. P. F. O'Brien, in closing the discussion, said that perhaps a few remarks from the chair would not be inapt. He doubted if tocks were absolutely essential to the cultivation of the literary sense. The Homeric rhapsodists were a case in point. The invention of printing itself has led to our not seeing the literary wood for trees. The reading of magazines and newspapers was fatal to the time if not the taste necessary for the reading of literature. Another grievous fault was was reading around a "classic," instead of reading in the great book itself. Literary criticism ought to come after literature, not before it. Even where the books of life and power have been gone through, the process has been more a task than a taste. Once read, never again read. And yet is it not Frederick Harrison who says that no one who had heard just once the Twelfth Mass or the Ninth Symphony could honestly lay claim to an acquaintance with Mozart or Beethoven? The great books (they are few) should be not only read repeatedly, but absorbed with as much imaginative sympathy as one is capable of. This absorption requires the play of the imagination; and so, the cultivation of this faculty enters largely into the cultivation of the literary sense. It is a faculty strangely neglected by pedagogy and pedagogues, although as an educational factor, it is worth all your gradings and "credits," all your schedules and curriculums pranked together. For it is through the sympathetic imagination alone, that the Iliad will show forth the glory that was Greece and the

Aeneid the greatness that was Rome; that Dante's vision of his long-lost Beatrice will be truly beatific; that Fielding will emerge. not only as our greatest eighteenth century novelist, but as the prose Homer of human nature; and that the tiltings of Don Quixote will be interpreted as so many passages in the tragicomedy of human life. This is to get to know the men and things of literature with a knowledge short of which, it is mere advertisement and sham to call a literary education "higher" or liberal.

Following the discussion of Fr. Carroll's paper, the Rev. Albert Muntsch, S. J., of St. Louis University, afforded a masterly treat with a written contribution entitled "The Modern Languages Course and the Choice of Suitable Texts." Owing to the lateness of the hour, discussion of this well handled paper was necessarily brief. The Rev. John F. Quirk, S. J., of Georgetown University suitably voiced the general sentiment of the audience; and the Rev. Patrick Cummins, O. S. B., Missouri, urged that the list prepared by Father Muntsch appear in the printed report of the convention. This terminated the program of the Section.

The following are the officers of the Languages and Literature Section for the year 1912-1913: Chairman, Rev. P. F. O'Brien, M. A., De Paul University, Chicago; Secretary, Bro. Bede, C. F. X., St. Joseph's College, Baltimore; Committee: Professor Lennox, Litt. D., Rev. P. J. Carroll, C. S. C., Rev. Albert Muntsch, S. J.

P. F. O'BRIEN, M. A.,
Chairman.

PAPERS

CUI BONO?

REV. P. A. MCDERMOTT, C. S. SP., DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY, PITTSBURGH, PA,

When it was proposed to me to treat the subject of the Latin language and its use under the caption "Cui Bono?" I hesitated considerably to accept the invitation, as I was aware of the ambiguous interpretation to which it might give rise. Nor have I yet completely overcome the first misgivings that I experienced at the thought of subjecting such a time-honored and important element of culture and education as the Latin tongue to the diagnosis of the apparently harsh and vulgar "Cui Bono?" Indeed, I should consider myself as occupying an unenviable position were I to feel called upon to say, "what good is the Latin ?” before an audience interested in the promotion and development of college studies and higher education. But happily I am not, even by the intrinsic force of my title, driven into such a predicament. For this good caption, so familiar in the language of Roman criminal procedure, will allow me to dwell upon the interesting topic in a way that, I hope, will neither imply distrust, on the one hand as to its utility or necessity, nor fail on the other hand, to carry with it a certain degree of appropriate and perhaps necessary intimation as to our shortcomings in regard to this important element of our education.

At first sight, it would seem superfluous to insist upon the advantages of the Latin tongue, to rehearse the numberless reasons why its cultivation is so eminently desirable for every category of educated persons. If anything, indeed, has been emphasized at past conventions, it is this very theme that has been dinned into our ears by trusted and most competent leaders. But for the last two years the subject has not been explicitly

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »