Bllingual

The lesson which the author and Academician, Maurice Donnay, learned during his recent visit to America is that it is necessary for his countrymen to know English. Very few even of the cultured Academicians speak English. But with all their passionate desire to have their own language appreciated, the French must not, says Donnay, "hold any illusions as to its universality." Two-thirds of the civilized world is now speaking English.

It is not likely, despite the continuing spread of English, that any national language will be immediately--that is, short of a half century--accepted as a universal second language. IT is therefore proposed by them that Latin should meanwhile be chosen as the universal auxiliary language for the use of statesmen, scientists and business men. This would necessitate its being taught as a living language; but, with so many teachers of Latin already in the schools of civilized countries, it should be much easier to accomplish this than to find competent teachers of Esperanto, or some other artificial language, and add it to the already overcrowded school curriculum.

Meanwhile, it would be a great advance toward international understanding if we were to widen our acquaintance with French, which must be for most people of English speech, the second language, even if Latin becomes an auxiliary tongue and if Donnay and his countrymen were to learn to speak and write English as well as Chevrillen, the nephew of the Taine, who with Donnay represented the French Academy at the Moliere celebration in America. --New York Times.