Dear Comrade:
In this lesson we are beginning the study of still another part of
speech. You will notice that in words, at least, we give credit and
place in society only because of _work performed_. In the society of
men, people are given place and position too often because of outward
dress and form or because of some special privilege. They are not given
their place in society because of the work which they do or because they
perform any useful function. In fact, in our topsy-turvy world, those
who perform no work at all, but are simply parasites upon society, have
claimed for themselves the best of everything and the highest positions.
Surely some time we shall see a society as successfully organized as our
society of words, when men will be received, not because of that which
they possess, but because of that which they do and are. Man has really
laid the foundation for an ideal commonwealth in his organization of
words into a spoken and written language.
When we think back across the centuries and think of the primitive man
as he dwelt in trees to protect himself from the wild animals, we wonder
what sort of speech he used then. Possibly it was only a little more
articulate than the speech of some animals.
But man had within him the instinct to question, and this has been the
root of all his progress. We can imagine these primitive men witnessing
the wonder of fire, as the terrible unknown god of the lightning set
fire to the forest in which they lived; but after the fear had subsided,
some adventurous, inquiring forefather of ours ventured near the ashes,
and began to investigate concerning this fearful and wonderful thing.
So gradually they discovered the use of fire, and with it a wonderful
new future opened before the primitive man. With these great
discoveries, he needed a better form of communication with his comrades,
so articulate speech developed. But when we go back into the beginning
of written speech, it is difficult for us to trace it to its beginning.
The first evidence we find was of man as a sign maker. On the walls of
caves in France and Belgium and here in America, we have found rude
sketches which the scientists tell us date back to the Ice Age and the
Old Stone Age. Here the primitive man has drawn for us crude pictures
describing different phases of his life, the animals about him, the hunt
and the chase, and in these pictures we find the very beginning of our
alphabet of to-day.
How much more wonderful it makes our spoken and written language to know
that man has developed it himself. It has not been handed down by some
god or powers above; but the spirit of rebellion against the things that
be; the great desire to know more and to find out the reason _why_ of
all the things around us,--these have been the forces that have led the
race from the animal-like beings that lived in trees to the race of
today that understands in a large measure the laws that govern life.
It is only as we, through this spirit of rebellion, this same divine
discontent with the things that are, seek to do our own thinking that we
can add our share to the heritage of the race. Let us have the same
courage that must have inspired the heart of that primitive man who
dared to venture and inquire concerning the fearful things of nature
round about him. Let us think for ourselves. Ask always the question
"why" and demand the reason for all things. Thus we shall free ourselves
and help to free the race.
Yours for Education,