Cornell College - Royal Purple Yearbook (Mount Vernon, IA)

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Bevn, M. A., D. D. Deptartmentt of Latin Latngua eet and .Literature THE .HUGH BOYDQ Professer C. RHLEY, Associate, Pibfessof Professfof Hugh Boyd has 'eutpthe head eff the Latin Dx6IJ12,1'?t1TlG1l13 in .Cornell College for thirty-ive years. is still alert, tvigQreusA,ga11d efiieientx in the tdiseharge of all the duties ef that pesitien. Professor Boyd does not hold tee the 'ftraditiells .of the eldtersf' in the teaching. of Language, or ilfreamythiug else. He has eeluvietiolaswef his own, and able to defend them. Theydare not simply the theories Gf itll tene thusiastt Qthough he is an enthwsriastlg they have b?6611'WdI'OU.gh'b 0tut.thmugh crueible and testetubf-3 ill the experience of the elasss retom. In the evolu- tion and Yerfitleatioh 'thereeixszoime five thousand pet1'sousHhfave been taught ethat wie not dead symbol?-e, or the mere cipher effsemlex real larlguage, but are themselves: the living realities of thottglutt expressiitom. No deed language emu be learned or taught. If its ,1Sy1'11bO1S' have passed out of use, they must be biuoeught back into use. They must be revivifled. 'They must stand. They must have ieet and hands. They must be suffttsed with life and energy and bteauty.

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and philosophy second to no other. The study of Greek further commends itself to the student as the language which contains the original docu- ments of our religion, and through which have been inherited the greatest contributions to the higher life of the world. The methods of instruction are not stereotyped. Although a thorough mastery of the language is insisted upon, an effort is made to surround all the toil with a helpful atmosphere and to inspire all the Work with a knowledge of its value and setting. The room provided xvith maps, photographs, some plasters and other objects, 'and 'a stereopticon with some A600 views on Greek geography, history and art. A year course in Classic al Archaeology and Art, in English, is also given in this department, being a study cf classical ideals Cand their modern signiicanceD as expressed in the life, literature, philosophy, architecture, sculpture, painting, etc., of the Greeks. and Romans, with a survey of the older arts of Egypt, Chaldea and Assyria. The books in the library and its collection of marble and bronze statuary Qfull size copies of classical originalsj, and the equipment of the department afford excellent material for reference and illustration. The head, of the departinenti has had the advantage of graduate study at Yale university and in Germany, and of seven months of study and travel in Greece and of some time in Italy.

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Thus the living language is heard. The living language is read by both teacher and pupil. It is not simply looked at and a crabbed English translation substituted for the strength and beauty of the original. Infor- mation may be gotten ,that Way. A language is never thus learned. Thought is never quiclcened in that Way. It is deadened. t Of vocal expression thought is born, In the sweep and play of the instantaneous mental judgments. passed on the thought values of indi- vidual Words, in the red hot fusing and blending of mental images in the alembic, of living utterance, in the light that floods the brain and is su Ffused in the face When an idea is realized-in these processes there is flashed into being, developed into life, transformed into symmetry, nourished into strength and povver and permanence that largest, noblest divinest creation of a human soul, a living, quivering, vibrant, pervasive, expansive, soul- produced and soul-enfoldilig thought, gentle and soothing as the zephyrs of a summer morning, and kindled to the White heat of the glow of the stars. And not otherwise. It is not'an old. fable, but a present fact, that the goddess of Wisclsoom sprang into bein from the brain of the sky-father. Grammar and Lexicon have their usesf They have also their abuses. A noted teacher of the olden time has said that tvventy pages of Latin Grammar are enough. It may be added that beyond that amount most of it is false and all of it is fudge. And the force of words cannot be learned from ia Lexicon. The force of words can only be learned when they tinkle upon the tongue and play upon the ear in the symphonies of thought-laden speech. So While many a teacher of good fame and admitted talent is, in Cole lege and University classes, distressing his pupils over the categories of the subjunctive, which do not even 'exist in the Latin tongue, Professor Boyd has, with inlinite patience and persistence, and to the joy and de- light of 'his pupils., devoted himself tothe actual teaching of the actual Latin. . lncidentally the Work of, the year has four times culminated in a play of Plautus in the original language and costume of the Roman. Forum. The Rudens and Trinummus have been used. Witli what succcss may be learned from some extracts from a description Written by Miss Laura L. Hinckley, regarding the last presentation, in June, 1905. She wrote: The annual Latin play at Cornell College was a brilliant success. To one who has never seen one of these plays, or Who was unfamiliar with the methods of Professor Boyd, it might have been a revelation of the Latin tongue as it was when plays were written in it, a language living, signiiicant, and fluid on the lips of men. The lreedoni with which these young people used a language so long dead was the strongest possible proof ol the earnest labor bestowed upon ite. Tha- evening justified Professor Boyds favorite theory that to know any liatin it is nocossui'y to learn some l.atin.'l 7