The west shore., January 01, 1880, Page 7, Image 7

January, 1880.
THE WEST SHORE.
1
THE CUSTODIANSHIP OK OUR LITER,
ATURE.
No. 1.
Y L V. VENKN.
The finest compliment, we think,
ever paid to our language is couched in
one of the brilliant perorations of that
gifted and learned Brahmin, Luximon
Roy, during a course of lectures upon
" America and American Institutions."
We cannot now reproduce the original
terms of the expression, for, like all
Oriental speakers and writers, he in
dulged in a beautiful word picture,
whose softly-blended tints and charming
perspective vanished with the subsi
dence of his mellow and sonorous voice:
we may be able to represent, however,
so much of the ground plan or profile
as our memory retains.
The speaker proceeded to show that
while such languages as he ancient
Hebrew, Sanscrit and Syrlac, by an
intimate union of their ligatures and
integuments, justly constituted the trunk
of the great tree of human speech, the
Greek, Latin, Arabic and Anglo-Saxon
might be considered as some of the
principal branches ; the immediate out
growth of these latter, represented by
the modern, cultivated languages of
Luropc, were the projected boughs, and
the lesser dialects and vernacular
tongues were typical of the smaller
subdivisions and twigs. Lastly, as if to
crown and glorify the whole, the Eng
lish language was the gorgeous, poly
petulous and redolent flower of this
giant tree, now in the acme of its
strength and noon-dav bloom.
Such, then, is the peculiar genius ol
that language which the early thinkers
and writers of the world have confided
to our keeping; and the predominate
phase of our present literature should
clearly show with how much fidelity w
are acquitting ourselves of the sacred
obligations imposed upon us.
Not only have we in the Unitc
States a purely Anglo-American lan
guage, but wc readily undertake to nay
that there are just as distinctive features
in the eastern and western flanks of our
national literature as ever existed in the
Attic, Ionic, Doric and Eolic dialects of
the Greek language. Hence it was
not all a jest when a leading publisher
of Boston declared that he could locate
eastern and western manuscripts by the
style alone, without ever reading the
names of the respective authors.
In view of the facts already stated,
t is but the legitimate result of a natural
nipulse that every true American
scholar should feel justifiably proud of
his country's language and liternturc.
To our best speakers and writers, then,
nould we look for the preservation.
intact, of our noble tongue, now the
egal highway of the world's grandest
and loftiest thoughts. Hut not to our
literary producers alone do we look.
lrue, they may sow and reap ; they
may verily produce and stock our mar
kets, but we are inclined to believe, after
all, that the leading journals and periodi
cals of our land are destined to be the
true custodians of such garnered fruits.
No sooner were the classic haunts of
Greece and Rome overrun by the bar
barous hordes of Northern Europe, and
their temples of learning profaned by
the unprovoked onsets of ignorance and
rudeness, than their respective languages
began to relapse and decline. What
the Latin suffered from the inroads of
foreign and ungainly idioms, the Greek
lost in euphony and sweetness.
The transition from the brilliant
Golden to the more suliducd Silver Aire
was, comparatively speaking, almost
imperceptible, and the best critics then
flourishing noted not the chanec. The
loftiest flights of Ovid, Livy and Ciesar
Germanicus were not a whit in advance
of the genius that pervaded the writ
ings of Cclsus, l'liny and Seneca.
From the Silver to the Brazen AgC.how
cver, the change was more abrupt and
apparent. The plebeians now marveled
when they heard strange voices and
shrank from the ominous signs of the
times. Lastly, and niorcatal than all,
the Iron Age was heralded by the
thunder of mail-clad horsemen, the
clash of resounding steel and the storm
ing of beleaguered towns and cities.
Let no one le startled when wc say
that our own language and its elegant
literature is immediately threatened by
a fate essentially similar to that which
befell the Latin and Greek toniues (lur
ing that desert and obscure period of
more than a thousand years in profane
history, the Dark Ages. And what is
all the more in this instance to be de
plored is the stubborn fact that the
modern Goths and Vandals which well
nigh overwhelm us on every side are of
our own flesh and blood, if not out-and-out
cousint-gcrmau; nay, ami like the
evil spirits that tormented the Gadarenc
who came out of the tombs, they arc a
clamorous crew and their name is
legion. Hundreds of unscrupulous and
irresponsible scribblers, uneircumcised
in even the first principles of rhetoric
or logic, but aided and abetted by such
newspapers and magazines as delight
to tolerate them as caterers, are flooding
and demoralizing our book-stalls, pub
lic libraries and reading rooms with a
villainous trash which every righteous
legislature should peremptorily consign
to the flames.
, Unrestrained by law or fashion, the
insidious influence of this spurious read
ing matter is finding i(N WL i,m our
homes and social gatherings ; it invades
the sanctity of the fireside circle and
crops out in the prattling sperch of our
children. Hence will be seen tho mo
dus operandi of this moral scourge in
deteriorating our common vernacular
and national literature.
But it is consoling to know that wc
have yet a few conscientious writers
and publishers in our land who may, by
DM ot indefatigable exertion, control
the balance of power.
A lirst-class hotel, capable of accom
modating forty boarders, is now in
course of construction at the spring, at
Collins Landing, on the Columbia
river. The proprietors, who arc enter
prising gentlemen from California, ex
pect to have the place in full blast early
next summer. The W hut Siiohk was
the first journal which called public at
tention to the valuable medical proper
ties of these springs, and it is somewhut
gratifying to us that the purchase
which was effected in consequence of
the article which appeared in the
Whst Sihibk, is so satisfactory to the
present owners, that they would not
part with the place ut any price.
Chinese immigration threatens to
swamp the native population of the
Hawaiian Islands. The Chinese, all
males, already amount to one-fifth the
entire Mpulation, and the arrlvala in
the last half year reported were ayooo,
nearly four per cent, of the native pop.
illation, mid a larger number than the
entire Chinese on the islands In 1874.
A reptile of he lizard species, ev
er! feet in length, has been discovered
in the valley of the Gila river, which
seems too mysterious and terrible for
our Zoological Gardens. It possesses,
according to the description, the power
of puralyxiag nuin or animal with its
poisoneu breath.