Review of Review, Ijlil'it). 



The Great Esperanto Gon^ress. 



603 



imitation was aiinouiiCfd and receivt-d with en- 

 tliusiasm. I asked one gentleman what we should 

 do. tor we could not give our friends the light wines 

 they were acrustomed to? ''Do!" he said, "why, 

 we will all drink tea." 



At this inorning's session an official letter from 

 the Pope was read saying that he would receive the 

 " Espero Katolika." The announcement was en- 

 thusiastically applauded. 



This evening, alas ! we could not again have the 

 theatre, and the rooms in which we met were far 

 too small, whether for the concert first or the ball 

 I. iter. Then; too, for many of us the day was sad- 

 Kned by the sad news of Dr. Lloyd's disappear- 

 mce. 



Saturday. August isi. — Early to the Aula for the 

 language discussion. It was definitelv decided that 

 the principle cif the language should remain as had 

 been fixed by Dr. Zamenhof in the " Fundemento 

 <fe Esperanto.'' For technical vocabularies they 

 must at present -be left to private initiative, and be 

 submitted later to the Language Committee. M. 

 Boriac, concluding his report, replaced the power 

 of the provisional committee in the hands of Dr. 

 Zamenhof. who thereupon declared " that in the 

 interests of E.speranto he entreated the Language 

 Committee to continue its labours as a permanencv. " 

 This declaration was recei\ed with the heartiest ap- 

 plause and entirely approved of. For several years 

 the Central Office will remain in Paris as hereto- 

 fore, and this is made possible by a magnificent gift 

 of jQ;!,ooo (towards the rent of the building and the 

 salaries of secretaries) by two French Esperantists 

 who desire to remain anonymous. A Swiss blind 

 man rose to thank the Congress in the name of the 

 blind Esperantists to whom new joy had come 

 through the medium of Esperanto. Amongst other 

 things it was .settled that as soon as possible the 

 different n.itionalities should undertake text books 

 of the grammar of their own nations in the Es- 

 peranto language; thus a .Spanish Esperantist desir- 

 ing to learn P'.nglish could learn it by means of 

 Esperanto, or if he desired to learn French or Ger- 

 man the same means would be available for him. 

 Esperantists desire earne.stly to cultivate the mother- 

 tongues, and never has there fieen an intention to 

 make Esperanto universal, only international. At 

 the close of the session the Marquis de Beaufront 



described a visit he had just paid to the veteran 

 Professor Xaville, who desired again to express his 

 profound svmpathv with the Esperanto movement, 

 and, unable himself to take an active part in life's 

 duties, he desired M. de Beaufront to give from 

 him the kiss of friendship to Dr. Zamenhof, and 

 amidst enthusiastic cries of "Viva Zamenhof!" the 

 official session was declared to be closed ; Messrs. 

 Micheaux, Mudie, Mybs, Hanauer, General Sebert, 

 Colonel Pollen, and Pastor Schmeberger being ap- 

 pointed the organising committee for the next Con- 

 gress. 



This evening the Victoria Hall was the scene of 

 the public closing, when reports were read, tele- 

 grams received, and two Swiss girls in their national 

 costumes presented a bouquet to Dr. Zamenhof. 

 At a quarter to ten a splendid description of the 

 Congo was given by Commander Lemaire, illus- 

 trated by limelight views. The lecture, if printed, 

 would prove a valuable contribution to Esperanto 

 literature. 



Sunday Morning. — Just back from the Esperanto 

 service at L'Auditoire, the old chapel in which John 

 I\nox preached when at Geneva. Pastor Schme- 

 berger took the service, the reading being the de- 

 scription of the Tower of Babel. The Rev. G. 

 I<.ust, of Cambridge, preached a sermon from the 

 text, " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness 

 thereof." The hvmns were -beautiful, and the 

 nnisic for the Doxology was composed by Mr. Rowe 

 (N'ottingham). There was also at the same hour a 

 service for Catholics, and the Socialists had a meet- 

 ing ; but the solemn and beautiful time in the 

 Auditoire left an impression no one of us present 

 will forget. The congregation filled the chapel, and 

 were of course from many nations. To-morrow a 

 large portion of the Esperantists are going for a 

 three days' trip in Switzerland. 



The Congress is over, and now we must use all 

 our efforts that the next one may be as successful. 

 We must study to speak fluently, and not be con- 

 tented with slip-shod indefiniteness. Singing, de- 

 clamation, and. above all. courtesy must be prac- 

 tised ; also stenographers will be needed for jiress 

 work. Whether the gathering be at Cambridge or 

 elsewhere, in Great Britain it will certainly be. Ger- 

 many claims to have the next, then Swedi'u ; Bel- 

 gium and Bohemia will follow probably. 



.\XS\VI';ii,S TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



F. (;.(!. (NpIsou. N.Z.) — It is ahvays difficult to 



represent pronunciation ti.v any written metliod when 



exact so\ni(l.s are to he defined, luit hv considering 



various explanations, all more or less appropriate. 



we may net iieai- the truth. The ideal pronunciation 



of Esperanto is one in which every letter has only 



and always one and th<' same sound, hut this is very 



unusual in any national language. In the case in 



point, if wc Kay "j" i.s equal to the Euglisli "y" 



nhicli is approximately true, we are met liy the difli- 



,culty that "y " in "hoy'' has not exactly the same 



rsound as "y" in "yoke." This does not matter 



much at the end and heginning of words, but in 

 tlie middle of words sucii as "voio" there is a dis- 

 tinct difference lietween " vo-io " (the last syllable 

 like "yo" in yoke), and " voj-o " (the first syllable 

 like " oy " in " hoy "). 



The ideal pronunciation of " j " in Esi)eranto is 

 such that there would he no difference between 

 " vo-jo " and "voj-o," where the "j' would be near 

 to the sounds of '"y" in "boy" and in "young," 

 but not exnctly either of them. 



" O, as in storm," i.s douhtles.s given to avoid 

 suggesting anything of a diphthongal nature, which 

 is sometimes apt to arise in connection with the Eng- 



