32 
HARD WORDS. 
“What divisions, my child?” 
“The divisions of the animal-kingdom,” 
said Sidney. “Aunt said they were of use, 
like the drawers in the store-room, to sort 
and put away our knowledge in. But why 
do they use such hard words, grandfather ? 
Why could they not use English words as 
well as Latin ? They would be so much 
easier to remember.” 
“ Easier to you, perhaps, but not to 
people who don’t know English and who 
do know Latin,” answered Dick. “I sup¬ 
pose the reason is that Latin is a sort of 
common language. Learned men in all 
countries know it and understand the names 
at once as soon as they see them. Is not 
that so, grandfather?” 
“ I believe you are right, my son.” 
“ But why could they not take some lan¬ 
guage now in use ?” persisted Annie. “ I 
am sure French or English is much easier 
to learn than Latin.” 
“ There might be some difficulty and 
jealousy in deciding which language should 
be chosen in that case ; and that is avoided 
by the use of a dead or unspoken language,” 
observed her grandfather. “ The people of 
