212 THE BORDERLAND OF SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. 



Cannot something be done by the pubHc of South Africa to 

 make clear speaking- a valued accomplishment? Language in this 

 country is becoming far too much a matter for the eye only. The 

 literary studies in the University Colleges must surely suffer from 

 the fact that the ear and tongue of the student have never been 

 trained. Not only is this the case ; but the merely intellectual study 

 of printed literature is singularly barren of reward, for it entirely 

 fails to earn due public recognition. There have been graduates 

 of the Cape whose intellectual capacity stood very high, but whose 

 elocution was such that they would have passed for uneducated 

 men among strangers either in London or Amsterdam. In contrast 

 to them we have known ladies whose one accomplishment was the 

 power to read aloud with clearness and precision, but the exercise 

 of this acquirement enabled them to hold their own among people 

 of literary and cultivated taste. 



Much has been done by the Taal Bond to promote a taste for 

 literary Dutch ; but the enforcement of a standard of pronunciation 

 has not yet been attempted, perhaps it may be the next step. 

 Cannot something of the kind be done for English? The music 

 examinations offer an example which might be imitated. Why 

 should not peripatetic examiners issue a certificate for good read- 

 ing, clear recitation and correct conversational language? At 

 present a girl spends perhaps ten or twelve hours a week in learn- 

 ing to play Beethoven and Chopin ; but if she retains the pro- 

 nunciation of the house-maid, her accomplishments will fail to do 

 her credit. 



American schools advertise " elocution " as one of their prin- 

 cipal subjects, and all French teachers are severely drilled in 

 pronunciation and voice-production, in which they have to satisfy 

 examiners, sometimes appointed from the Conservatoire, where 

 actors graduate for the stage. Here, then, we have the example 

 of the two most democratic countries in the world. This surely 

 is sufficient answer to those who regard recitation as a fashion- 

 able fad and who sneer at anything that may be called an attempt 

 to impose on an independent public the stilted affectations of 

 Mayfair. It may be admitted at once that considerable latitude 

 and variety may be allowed. Cultivated men from London, Dublin 

 and Boston may easily be distinguished by the variety of their 

 intonation ; but all of them are capable of reading Milton or 

 Shakespeare with dignity and taste. So it may be with the culti- 

 vated South African of the future, if some attempt is made to 

 ensure dignified utterance. 



The curriculum of our schools is too narrow in other respects. 

 Boys whose future will depend upon a ready knowledge of prac- 

 tical methods of calculation require further mathematical training 

 than they at present obtain ; w^hile as many as possible should 

 acquire the power to read either French or German. To take the 

 first of these subjects : a somewhat rash scheme has originated in 

 England for bringing Trigonometry and the use of logarithms 

 within the scope of Seventh Standard pupils. However this may 

 turn out, there is no question that these subjects are thoroughly 

 suitable for bovs in the Fourth and Fifth Forms of Hip-h Schools. 



