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LANGUAGES AND LETTER-WRITING. 



IT is not too early for parents and teachers to 

 begin planning for the summer exchange of 

 homes. There are many opposing wants to be 

 arranged for, and the arrangements consequently 

 often take a long time. For example, last summer 

 Miss Batchelor . received seventy-nine applications 

 from Great Britain, but of these only fifty came to a 

 successful issue. In some cases the distance to be 

 traversed was too great, some of the applicants were 

 so much over the ordinary age that no one came 

 forward on the other side of the Channel, and illness 

 was a preventive in one or two cases. 



The reports from all quarters show steady'progress, 

 but we must all give publicity to the scheme as far as 

 we can ; for what can better promote international 

 amity than an exchange of children, and what can 

 better advance facility in a language than a sojourn in 

 the country where the language i^ spoken and in a 

 family where it i? the mother-tongue ? 



This year a German society which will act with us 

 has been successfully formed. The offices are in 

 Berlin, and prominent directors of schools and such 

 men as Professor Forster are on the committee. It 

 is for us to do our part, for, to our great regret, only 

 four exchanges were made with Germany last year, 

 whilst 154 were made between Germany and France. 

 It cannot be too often repeated that every possible 

 care is taken on both sides that the exchangees shall 

 have the same advantages they would enjoy in their 

 own homes. Certain railway facilities have been 

 granted on some lines, and when necessary the 

 young people are met in London, Paris, etc., and 

 passed from one station to another. Miss Batchelor, 

 who is hon. secretary for Great Britain, will answer 

 all inquiries and send fuller particulars. ' Her address 

 is Grassendale, Southbourne-on-Sea, Hants. There is 

 a small fee of five shillings to cover the various 

 expenses. 



The new list of British teachers who favour the 

 scholars' exchange of Ictlers must shortly be made 

 up. Will teachers kindly send to- the office of the 

 Review of Reviews if they desire their names to be 

 put upon the list ? It is printed in France by the 

 French Modern Language Association, the list of 

 French teachers being published by our Modern 

 Language Association. Even facility in speaking 

 a foreign tongue does not mean perfection in 

 writing it, as the comical expressions_ in some letters 

 show. 



ESPERANTO. 



As usual, there is so much to report and our space 

 is so limited that we can never get the half in. Last 

 month a most successful meeting at Manchester was 

 omitted. It was organised by Mr. Rhodes Marriott, 

 Colonel Pollen came from Germany to present 

 Esperanto to the audience, and the Dean of Man- 

 chester (Bishop Welldon) was present, and protested 



that English must be, and was rapidly becoming, the 

 universal language. Esperantists were on the right 

 lines in trying to overcome the great barrier to 

 human sympathy, but Esperanto was as difficult to 

 learn as any other language. He believed it to be 

 practically impossible to form a language by an 

 arbitrary process ; such a language must lack fine 

 shades of meaning. He-^^lf^is not surprised that 

 Esperanto had no literature ; he did not think it 

 ever would have a literature. Needless to say 

 Dr. Pollen was able to demolish such mistaken state- 

 ments, and the large audience applauded him heartily. 

 Mr. Marriott may be well gratified at the success 

 resulting from his efforts. 



If Bishop Welldon, or others who think like him, 

 would pay a visit to the British Esperanto Association, 

 they would be astonished at the amount of literature 

 produced in so short a time. The delightful original 

 novel " Paulo Debenham " (2s. net) is noticed 

 amongst the month's novels. Mr. Luyken is a 

 naturalised Englishman, busy earning his daily bread 

 in business. He learnt Esperanto in three weeks, had to 

 make a speech before a month was up, and immediately 

 began to translate such books as " The Practice of 

 the Presence of God " ; but being a genuine story- 

 teller, in the habit of giving out yarns innumerable 

 and unpremeditated to eager groups of children, he 

 started to write a romance. Speaking four languages 

 fluently and with a smattering of three others, he yet 

 finds Esperanto the easiest medium for the expres- 

 sion of thought. Mr. Luyken is writing a second 

 novel, but will not publish, of course, unless 

 " Paulo Debenham " is a success. It has already 

 brought from abroad expressions of thanks for 

 such a revelation of English modern life. 



Many other publications are rapidly coming from 

 the press. Dr. de Hartog, a Protestant pastor in 

 Haavlj:-!, has entered into correspondence with a 

 Thcoi ) ihist, Madame Weggeman Guldemont, anent 

 their diuering views of religion, and the two papers 

 are published under the title of " Disrompu ni la 

 intermurojn " (6d.). Mr. Luiscius, a Dutch 

 advocate, has written a treatise on character, 

 " Karaktero," price 6d. also ; and these are only two 

 of many such works, for it is being realised than an 

 international public is a great desideratum in these 

 days. 



The annual dinner of the British Esperanto 

 Association is arranged to take place February 17 th. 

 M. Privat's plans are not yet settled ; he will prob- 

 ably lecture in London in March. A short time 

 ago he gave an Esperanto lesson to the King of 

 Italy. 



At the prize giving of the London Chamber of 

 Commerce at the Mansion House, January 24th, 

 Miss E. M. Lambert was presented with the ^3 

 prize for proficiency in Esperanto and Miss Stacy the 

 prize of ^i. Both got a hearty cheer. 



