APPENDIX A LXV 



embodied its ideal. The Arabs overran Asia and Africa with a book, 

 and the literary style of the Koran was an important factor in its initial 

 reception in Arabia. 



The great empires of tlie East, for all tlieir wealth and power, 

 passed away without leaving any records save in the Greek and Hebrew 

 histories; bnt there is one small ofi-shoot of the Semitic race which 

 has been preserved to the present day by the power of its literature. 

 The Bible is, in fact, the literature of the ancient Jewish nation. Its 

 {«election and preservation form no part of my theme. My object is to 

 point out the amazing power it has had in preserving the Hebrew people 

 through 2,000 years of unparalleled persecution. It contains all forms 

 of literature, but especially poetry of the very highest order. The 

 triumph song of Moses, the lament for Jonathan, the philosophical 

 drama of Job, the sweet idyll of Euth, the grand prophetic outbursts 

 of Isaiah, the treasury of the soul of all himianity in the Psalms, make 

 the book a wonder of literature, and a heavy responsibility rests upon 

 the Philistines who put it out of the schools. Without king, noble, or 

 priest, without country, city, or temple, without any material holding 

 ground, this book has kept alive the Jewish nation in all lands and 

 supported it under the most dreadful oppression. Not only beside the 

 rivers of Babylon, but beside all the rivers of the habitable world has 

 this people wept the bitter tears of the alien; but the power of their 

 literature kept the memory of Zion perennially fresh in their souls. 



During the last twenty-five years the idea of a Canadian nation- 

 ality has been rapidly growing, and the change is reflected in our 

 literature, especially in our poetry. To weld all Canada into one nation 

 is an arduous task, and the statesmen will need the aid of the writers 

 of Canada. The double history and origin of our people stand in the 

 way of that intimate fusion so important in the formation of national 

 solidarity. The problem is not the absorption of a few thousands of 

 scattered foreigners; but to unite in common aspirations the French 

 and English elements of our society. That was done in England, but 

 it took a long time ; for our Edward the Third could not speak English, 

 and, until the closing years of his long reign, French only was taught 

 in the schools. It was the influence of Chaucer which decided the 

 issue, and his poetry fixed the language we speak; but, like the victory 

 at Quebec, the result was not a conquest; for, while the grammar is 

 English and the common vocabulary is Saxon, the majority of words 

 in our dictionaries are of French and Eomance origin. This cannot be 

 repeated ; for both languages are now fully formed by great literatures, 

 but much can be done by frankly facing the facts as they are, by having 



Proc, 1908. 5. 



