Ladies and Gentlemen:—The invitation to address you this evening was not accepted without considerable misgiving, and nothing but the urgent solicitation of your Secretary could have induced me to appear before an Association whose professional pursuits are in many respects so different from my own. The daily round of my duties is so far removed from the “ quiet and still air of delightful studies” which the scholar so much covets that it is not very easy to take up a subject which implies constant intercourse with the great masters of literature and an intimate familiarity with the college and university work of our time. At the same time I may venture to say that, while my labors have been almost wholly in the field of elementary education, I have not been unmindful of the important questions pertaining to higher education that have been so warmly discussed during the past quarter of a century. The question of educational reform touches schools of every grade, and no change can be made in any one department of school work without materially affecting all the others. While I beg of you to understand, therefore, that I shall speak of the points involved in this paper with great diffidence, what will be said may be taken as the result of careful observation and serious thought.

The theory of Heinzel. Style and Metre: connected. The Metre. Four accents versus Eight accents. The Alliteration.

It is my purpose to offer a few suggestions on the teaching of a foreign literature in connection with the so-called seminary system, to add a word regarding that system itself, and to inquire to what extent the methods and scope of the instruction at German universities are available for our own institutions.

Although much attention has been bestowed upon the Spanish proverb and idiomatic phrase from the ‘Centiloquio.’ of the Marquis of Santillana (first published 1496) down to Sbarbi's ’Refranero General Espaol’ (1878), this province of the Spanish language is still far from being thoroughly searched, and much interesting material may yet be brought to light.

In every large city we find peculiarities in the language and customs which serve in the aggregate to mark its distinctive and individual character. They strike the stranger upon his first contact with its people as archaisms or as innovations, at least as developments peculiar to the place itself. They are often, indeed, heirlooms which the founders of the city have left it, invaluable and sacred, whose historic worth is incomparable to the philologist and historian. Often a single expression, or even sound, or a peculiar custom, conveys an historic truth more forcibly to the attentive observer than long chapters of dry history. For words, sounds, customs, also have their history, and a word has often been called an epic poem. Moreover, these peculiarities set their seal, as it were, upon each of its citizens, identifying him with itself, and whatever distinction he may acquire, either at home or abroad, is reflected upon his native place. They carry us back, historically, to the fatherland of those pioneers who founded the city and peopled the adjacent country. They still preserve the kindred relations to the mother-country, even after those of a political nature have been severed. We may see this in those colonies of Greece which have left their impress upon the country colonized, observable after everything Greek had passed away. (cf. Lower Italy, Marseille in France, and Louisiana in this country).

Folk-lore may appear to many persons as being of little importance, but the great interest which philologists take in it, is the best proof of its usefulness. I shall, therefore, give what I know of folk-lore in Louisiana, presenting the text, in the patois, of some popular tales, songs and proverbs, and making a few critical remarks about that most interesting dialect spoken by the Negroes in Lower Louisiana.

One of the most interesting subjects of study to the concientious teacher is that of methods of instruction. It is indispensable to his success that he should be familiar with all existing methods, so that he may intelligently choose that one, or that combination, which is best suited to his peculiar conditions. Generally the age of the pupils, the time allotted for instruction in Modern Languages, and the place these occupy in the curriculum—by which I mean the object of studying them—are beyond our control. Modern Languages are studied, for example,

1. 1. As an accomplishment.

2. 2. Because other schools offer them, and with no special ulterior object, or with a vague idea of some intellectual benefit.

3. 3. To serve the purposes of a summer trip abroad.

4. 4. As a means of improvement in the use of one's native tongue.

5. 5. For general culture obtainable by reading foreign literature.

6. 6. For philological research or amusement.

7. 7. For acquiring the ability to consult foreign scientific and technical publications.

8. 8. For business correspondence.

9. 9. Because business, family, or friendly relations bring with them personal intercourse with foreigners.

10. 10. To teach them.

Wesen und character des lautwandels sind von unseren hervorragendsten sprachforschern schon so vielfach und eingehend behandelt worden, dass es kühn erscheinen mag, wenn hier die sache nochmals zur sprache gebracht wird. Indessen wird die wichtigkeit des gegenstandes auch diesen neuen kleinen beitrag noch rechtfertigen. In der that, wer auch nur über einen einzigen sprachgeschichdichen fall ein eigenes urtheil haben will, der muss durchaus über gewisse fundamentale vorfragen sich zu möglichster klarheit durchgearbeitet haben. Es hilft nichts, andere an seiner start denken zu lassen und dann am ende einfach ja oder nein mitzusagen; der ganze vorgang will von jedem selbständig erfahren und durchdacht sein. Dabei geschieht es dann wohl, dass der nachfolgende hie und da ein wenig von dem pfade des führers abweicht. Soviel zur entschuldigung der folgenden bemerkungen; sind dieselben völlig verfehlt, so möge die schwierigkeit, nach männern wie Ascoli, Brugmann, Paul, Schuchardt u. a. noch etwas von belang vorzubringen, uns wenigstens als mildernder umstand angerechnet werden.

The fect that the verbs m the Teutonic languages are divided into two classes according to the different formations of their preterits, gives the inquiry into the origin of the preterit of the so-called weak verb a peculiar interest to the student of Teutonic philology. The regular development of the strong preterit from the perfect active of the Aryan parent-speech has long been recognized, but the origin of the weak preterit is still an open question. Formerly the weak preterit was considered to be formed by the addition to the verbal stem of the Aryan root dhē (or as it was formerly put, dhā) “do.” Since the publication by Wilhelm Begemann of his two monographs ‘ Das schwache Präteritum der germaniscben Sprachen’ (Berlin 1873) and ‘ Zur Bedeutting des schwachen Preteritums der germanischen Sprachen’ (ib. 1874), this composition-theory has gradually been abandoned, for Begemann showed that such formations as mah-ta, kun-pa, wis-sa, etc. on the one hand, and nasi-da, habaida, fullnōda, on the other, did not, as the early theory assumed, originally contain a dh in their suffixes, but rather a t in accordance with the similar formation of their participles. (e. g. Goth. mah-t-s and mah-ta). However, his thesis, though supported with acumen and scholarship, was at first rejected by all who passed judgment upon it But it has come to honor since the partial adhesion of Windisch and the full adhesion of Möller, the former m Kuhn‘s Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung, VIII (1876), p. 456f., and the latter in Kölbing‘s Englische Studien, III (1880), p. 160f. But the recognition of the fect that the characteristic of the weak preterit was originally a dental tenuis does not constitute a solution of the problem, but only the beginning of a solution. It still remains to inquire further into the source of this tense characteristic and to explain the striking similarity in the formation of the weak preterit and the weak participle.