EDITOR'S TABLE. 



119 



sical education had proved a failure. 

 He first tried to discredit him as not 

 knowing the difference between failure 

 and success, intinmting that Mr, Adams 

 has been after all a very successful man ; 

 that he studied Greek ; therefore, by a 

 well-known classical formula, his suc- 

 cess was due to his Greek. But Presi- 

 dent Porter is not entirely satisfied with 

 the suflficiency of this logic, and so he 

 proceeds to strengthen his case by re- 

 sorting to counter-testimony. Sudden- 

 ly converted to the faith that the evi- 

 dence of men of experience is worth 

 something — at least when it comes on 

 his side — he cites repeated cases of 

 men who, in opposition to Mr. Adams, 

 set a high value on their classical edu- 

 cation. The question, then, is, to what 

 extent is Mr. Adams's view substanti- 

 ated by the testimony of others, and 

 of those who must be regarded as the 

 highest authorities ? Let us rule out the 

 enemies of the classics — those ignorant 

 of them or prejudiced against them — 

 and appeal to men whose sympathies 

 and predilections are on the other side, 

 but who have had large opportunities 

 of observing the results of classical 

 study — eminent educators, college pres- 

 idents, experienced teachers, and pro- 

 fessors of Latin and Greek, and those 

 who have systematically and under re- 

 sponsibility inquired into the general 

 working of this kind of education, 



A conspicuous example of such testi- 

 mony is obtained without going very far. 

 The eminent President of Columbia Col- 

 lege, Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, is a man of 

 enlarged experience in the field of colle- 

 giate education, and he has anticipated 

 Mr. Adams in the emphatic reproba- 

 tion of dead-language studies, on the 

 ground of their incontestable failure. 

 In an address before the University Con- 

 vocation a few years ago President Bar- 

 nard said : " What are in fact the re- 

 sults which we do actually reach in the 

 teaching of the classics at this time ? 

 Are they in truth anything like what 

 we claim for them ? We hear, for in- 



stance, a great deal said of the intel- 

 lectual treasures locked up in the lan- 

 guages of Greece and Kome, which it 

 is asserted that our system of educa- 

 tion throws open to the student freely 

 to enjoy. And yet wo know that prac 

 tically this claim is without foundation. 

 It will not, I presume, be affirmed of 

 the graduates of American colleges gen- 

 erally that they become faraiJiar with 

 any portions of the literature of Rome 

 and Greece which do not form part of 

 their compulsory reading. It will hard- 

 ly be aflfirmed that one in ten of them 

 does so. And why not? The reason 

 is twofold: First, there is hardly one 

 in ten in whose mind the classics ever 

 cease to be associated with notions of 

 painful labor. Reading is not therefore 

 pursued beyond the limit of what is re- 

 quired, because it is not agreeable. But, 

 secondly and chiefly, there is hardly one 

 in ten whose knowledge of the Latin 

 or the Greek is ever sufliciently famil- 

 iar to give him the command of the 

 ancient literature which it is asserted 

 for him that he enjoys. I suppose that, 

 to read with any satisfaction any work 

 in any language, we should be able to 

 give our attention to the ideas that it 

 conveys, without being embarrassed or 

 confused by want of familiarity with 

 the machinery by which they are im- 

 parted. It will not be for mere pleas- 

 ure that we shall pursue our task, if 

 every sentence brings us a new neces- 

 sity to turn over, our lexicons, or to rea- 

 son out a probable meaning by the ap- 

 plication of the laws of syntax. And 

 yet, if there be any of our graduates 

 who are able, without such embarraM- 

 ments, to read a classical author, never 

 attempted before, the number must be 

 very few. If there are any who can 

 read even such books of Latin and 

 Greek as they have read before, with 

 anything like the fluency with which 

 they read their mother-tongue, the 

 number can not be large ; and if there 

 are any who can read, with similar fa- 

 cility, classic works which they take np 



