“I have forgotten much and recover it with more difficulty than when in the vigor of mind I originally acquired it. It is wonderful to me that old men should not be sensible that their minds keep pace with their bodies in the progress of decay.” So wrote Thomas Jefferson at the age of 68. He goes on to talk about one of those old men, Clinton, who keeps on telling stories of his younger days to prove his memory, “as if memory and reason were the same faculty. Nothing betrays imbecility so much as being insensible to it.” How easy it is to agree with him when I sit down to recall the times past. However, I don’t want to be thought of as a Clinton, that I keep telling stories just to prove my memory. I tell them because I like to relive some of those things I have experienced. It is done with hope that they entertain and/or amuse those who take the time to read these tales. Incidentally, the Clinton referred to by Jefferson was George of New York, not Bill of Arkansas. He was a hero and Vice President to Jefferson in his second term and to James Madison who followed. He is not to be confused with that distant relative now often in the news.
One advantage Jefferson had, aside from his faculties for reasoning and memory, were copies of a nearly all his correspondence. He copied over a lifetime some 28,000 of letters, which he had sent. It was quite a task, when you consider he had no Xerox machine much less a memory available on a personal computer. I have something that helps in that I have copies of these ramblings since 1992, plus some other papers I saved from various activities. They tell me that in June 1998 we were returning from a jaunt of driving some 3500 miles. It began in the last days of April. It ended in June and between we visited all the grandchildren from as far as Oswego, N.Y. to Harrisburg, Pa. We ended the jaunt with a lunch and visit with my sister Win. It would be the last time we would see her since the Lord called her home in November 15, 1998. The same general time in 1997 found us back in St. Pete’s until early May with a return to Philly area in time to see Alex and Aidan baptized. We returned to St. Pete’s in the middle of August to tend to work being done on our present home.
“Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.”
June ’99 saw grandson Tommy McSorley celebrate his 15th birthday with a trip to Chicago to compete in a national Declamation contest. “Declamation” is the recitation of an address written by some one else, like reciting a part in a play, and if not properly done, becomes a “tirade” or “harangue”. He was the winner in the category in Philadelphia and after two days of elimination contests he ended in 4th place of the final 6 contestants. One more chevron to add to his stripes of success. At the rate he is going adding chevrons he soon will leave the noncommissioned category and -be heading for “general”. He advises that he even got in a day of sight seeing so it wasn’t all hard work. His school, Holy Ghost Prep, as I understand, was the overall winners.
Beside Tommy McSorley having a birthday in June, we also have Grandson Joseph Golden Ill, Andy, Eleanore McSorley and my good wife, June. Andy will reach jack Benny’s age, Joseph ten years, while June and Eleanore McSorley are reaching a few years beyond. We will remember Win who had a birthday this month.
In 1997 I received a clipping, probably from Bill King, about “teaching a little Latin to help little ones,” describing a program in its 15th year at Villanova University introducing Latin to children as young as 3 years of age. The class at that time had 55 students ranging from ages 4 through 14. Effie N. Coughanower, who sees Latin as solution to a perceived decline in literacy, founded it. She wrote a book published in 1990 advocating a mandatory year of Latin for all first graders. Some literacy experts scoff at the idea. I thought the program a bit unusual and innovative. But while reading about my favorite early American, Thomas Jefferson, I found he had proposed a similar program. In reforming the laws of Virginia and writing their Constitution he proposed what we would call “public education”. It even included women, girls if you will, at least in the early years for reading, writing and arithmetic. His proposal included the teaching of Latin and Greek not quite as early as three and four year olds but what would be equivalent to 3rd graders or 7 and 8 year olds. The author of the Jefferson’s Biography notes however that this was not as innovative as it might seem in that the Kingswood School, Bristol, England in 1768 had “…included in the first year not only the study of Latin and Greek grammar but also the reading of Caesar, Virgil, and the Greek Testament”.
There were critics who scoffed at the idea then and now on the basis of “its usefulness” One critic of the Villanova program, said, “…it would be hard for a four year old to understand why they are learning something they couldn’t use”. My recollection of four-year-olds in learning anything never had them including analyzing whether it would be useful or not! The greatest thing about the child at that age is his/her receptors, brains, or what have you, act like sponges, which absorb the matter, placed before it and never ask themselves why. In fact, I never remember in my own educational scheme asking if a subject would be useful until I began selecting courses in third year of high school. “Useful” is a weasel word. It usually depends on who is asking and not much more. Is Latin “useful” because it gives one a greater foundation to the understanding of English, or is that not “useful”? The ultimate “useful” for most people is to equate it to dollars. Will it help me get and/or keep a job? These askers are making a job equal to a life. Life is more than a job, a profession or a career. For those other times, we spend enjoying that life we need the usefulness of “understanding” things around us. They come from literature and art of all kinds.
I encouraged my grandsons to take Latin when they were given an opportunity. I understand one more Matthew McSorley has chosen it too. Those who have finished one year, Tommy, Sean, and David have all found it interesting (useful?). The authors of Latina Pro Populo (Latin for the People) explain the influence of Latin on our language as twofold:
“First, Latin has provided and continues to provide an incredible proportion of our minimum daily requirement of vocabulary. Even though English, like German, Danish, and Swedish, is descended from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family, its vocabulary is predominately Latinate. And second, by providing us with words, Latin has also provided us with the concepts, which those words express. What else, after all, are words for if not to mean something? As a result, the Latin language has continued to play a substantial role in shaping the way we look at the world, since we can’t help but filter the world through our language. To know something about Latin, then is to know something about how and why we perceive the cosmos as we do.”
Enough said.
We were lucky at Golf tournament in the beginning of May. The Church sponsored it. Our luck was not in the playing but in winning a raffle. The prize was a night and two days at a Beach Resort in St. Petersburg Beach. We intend to use it a few days the week after Father’s Day.
My sister Marge sent me a treasure. It a letter my mother wrote to my brother Dick on October 30, 1947! In it she speaks of a visit to me then attending the Oblate Junior College in Newburgh, N.Y. She writes, “…and Paul was a real joy. He seems completely acclimated and content. His letters home each week are a riot. He writes at length and seems interested in everything”. Upon reading it, June said, “Haven’t changed much, have you?” Well, maybe, but they are no longer a “riot”!
Ron & Mary,
I presume the visit to the Rochester area and the Yake’s clan, only further enhanced the charms of those “guys”. I forgot to mentioned that one of the pictures that came, I think with my birthday card, had their greetings written in circles extending from their mouths, it sits in front of what a call “my work bench” in the garage. I thank them each time I appear before them for the gracious comments. Hope you and they are well and growing in wisdom and grace. Did you get to run the “Nun’s Run” this year? Love to learn what the shirts were like, they always were gems.
Happy to hear from you anytime.
Love to you and the “guys”, Dad