The source of all
our joy in the landscape, of the luxuriance of fertile nature,
is the sun and not the air. Nature would be more prodigal in Mexico than
in Greenland, even if the air in Mexico were as full of soot and smoke as
the air of Pittsburg{h}, or loaded with the acid from a chemical factory.
So it is with language. Language is merely a medium for thoughts,
emotions, the intelligence of a finely wrought brain, and a good
mind will make far more out of a bad medium than a poor mind will
make out of the best. A great violinist will draw such music from
the cheapest violin that the world is astonished. However is that any
reason why the great violinist should choose to play on a poor violin;
or should one say nothing of the smoke nuisance in Chicago because
more light and heat penetrate its murky atmosphere than are to be found
in cities only a few miles farther north? The truth is, we must regard
the bad spelling nuisance, the bad grammar nuisance, the inartistic and
rambling language nuisance, precisely as we would the smoke nuisance,
the sewer-gas nuisance, the stock-yards' smell nuisance.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25