* * * * *

LESSON 1.

A TALK ON LANGUAGE.

Let us talk to-day about a language that we never learn from a grammar or
from a book of any kind--a language that we come by naturally, and use
without thinking of it.

It is a universal language, and consequently needs no interpreter. People
of all lands and of all degrees of culture use it; even the brute animals
in some measure understand it.

This Natural language is the language of cries, laughter, and tones, the
language of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the whole face; the language of
gestures and postures.

The child's cry tells of its wants; its sob, of grief; its scream, of pain;
its laugh, of delight. The boy raises his eyebrows in surprise and his nose
in disgust, leans forward in expectation, draws back in fear, makes a fist
in anger, and calls or drives away his dog simply by the tone in which he
speaks.

But feelings and desires are not the only things we wish to communicate.
Early in life we begin to acquire knowledge and learn to think, and then we
feel the need of a better language.

Suppose, for instance, you have formed an idea of a day; could you express
this by a tone, a look, or a gesture?