lOi 



LANGUAGES AND LETTER-WRITING. 



THE annual meeting of the Modern Language 

 Association took place in Birmingham this year, 

 and a gratifying increase in the membership was 

 reported. Professor Wichmann spoke about the 

 importance of a knowledge of German to all engaged 

 in commerce, and not that alone. Friendship without 

 a language in common is not practical. His state- 

 ment that the German schoolmaster last summer saved 

 the peace of Europe has a basis in fact no doubt, but we 

 British folk must not hold back and leave matters to 

 the German schoolmaster. Amongst my latest letters 

 are three from young Germans desiring to correspond 

 with young Englishmen. Will some of my readers 

 mention this fact, so that I may be enabled to pass the 

 letters on to Englishmen willing to respond and eager 

 to obtain a better knowledge of German by this simple 

 method ? 



Two of the other speakers at the Modern Language 

 meeting laid stress upon the increased difficulty of 

 the study of a foreign language to children who had 

 not been taught grammar and who, therefore, did not 

 understand simple grammatical terms. 



One teacher in a girls' school (Altona) has one 

 hundred girls who would correspond with English 

 girls. 



ESPERANTO. 



The annual dinner of the British Esperanto Associa- 

 tion was an unqualified success. Visitors from outlying 

 places had a good opportunity to exchange informa- 

 tion ; the string quartette, though amateur, was not 

 amateurish ; Miss Maud was in fine voice, and Mr. 

 Butler's harp solo unforgettable. The speech of 

 M. Privat though short was full of matter, and he 

 boldly called upon the British folk to gird up their loins 

 lest they be beaten in the race. Adverting to M. 

 Michelin's splendid gift of 20,000 francs to be used in 

 giving school prizes lor Esperanto in France, he urged 

 that Esperantists should endeavour to find a similar 

 benefactor in Great Britain. Above all, they must not 

 make the mistake of supposing that it was patriotic 

 to conclude that ]'2nglish must be the international 

 medium for intercourse ; in all his travels in Austria, 

 l^jland, Russia, etc., he had been astonished to find 

 that neither French nor English was of service ; even 

 in St. Petersburg itself he found but one Russian 

 eloquent in French, and that was the Prime Minister, 

 whilst as regards English he did not meet a single person 

 who used our language ; so that many firms have 

 found that they can best push their business in Russia 

 by using Esperanto. 



Mr. and Mrs. Moscheles had given an " At Home '' 

 the Sunday preceding, so that non-Espcrantists could 

 meet M. Privat and his bride, who with him is journey- 

 ing far and wide to spread the knowledge of Esperanto. 

 The result was not only a pleasant evening, but the 

 promise of several of the guests to think seriously of a 

 matter .so important. 



Death, alas ! has been % ery busy in our ranks lately. 

 M. Van der Beist, the promoter and president of the 

 Antwerp Congress, was called away in the midst of 

 work which perhaps no one else can take up. Herr 

 Lederer was a well-known and devoted German worker ; 

 and now we have lost M. Robin, a comparatively young 

 man, who leaves behind him a widow and two young 

 children. As the editor of Danubo he was doing grand 

 work in the Balkan countries. 



The arrangements fur the eighth congress are going 

 on apace. The Galician Minister is wholly favourable. 

 The old Polish capital is not only beautiful, but it is full 

 of interest, whilst, as has been said, the West of Europe 

 needs to be brought into contact with the East, and 

 never will people of small means have a better chance 

 of obtaining personal knowledge of some of the finest 

 amongst the Polish, Czech and Russian peoples. The 

 common meeting place will be at the Commercial 

 Academy, which will be placed at the disposal of the 

 congress. As many poor students are expected, 

 arrangements are being made for the utilisation of 

 schools as boarding places. Two, each having room for 

 a hundred, are possible, the cost to be about 2s. 6d. for 

 the six days. For us in England, the journey costs will 

 be the great difticulty ; but, as during 191 2 the date of 

 the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first publication of 

 Esperanto will occur, and as it is feared this may be 

 the last of Dr. Zamenhof's personal attendances, many 

 will strain a point to go. 



Will our readers turn to the notice of the Esperanto 

 books we publish ? One much neglected is the reprint 

 of Dr. Zamenhof's own article, packed with ar- 'mcnts, 

 upon " The Problem of an International Language,"' 

 placed, with the English translation b\- Mr. Wackrill. in 

 parellel columns, thus giving the learner the finest 

 possible model for composition, a reading lesson, and 

 translation exercises. It was printed at Dr. Zamenhof's 

 special request, costs sixpence, and is known as '' An 

 International Language," by Uniel. 



If, however, a book to convince the unbeliever or 

 awaken the sleeper is needed, nothing finer can be found 

 than Mr, B. E. Long's " The Passing of Babel " (British 

 Esperanto Association), which gives the reasons for the 

 need of an international help-language, the origin of 

 Esperanto, its qualities, the proofs of utility given bv 

 congresses, science and trade : its literary and educa- 

 tive value, etc., together with an appendix which 

 contains statistics and an epitome of the language 

 itself. The price is (n\. 



I ha\'e no space to record the capital lectures and 

 o\-ersea news. The British EsperaitlisI for the last 

 two months has given these in detail and in Ivnglish. 



Norman Angell is now certain of a great audience 

 when he writes ; but so that it may be truly inter- 

 national, Messrs. Bunce and Cameron have translated 

 the third chapter of " Tiie Great Illusion," and it has 

 appeared, with other interesting matter, in the February 

 Revuo. 



