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Gentlemen of the Press,
Aware of your great powers, I stand before your bar to plead, that ye may
plead for my countrymen, that they may be taught first to read their mother
tongue, which would not only be the most rational, but also the most natural
way of teaching them.
What an encouragement would it be to children to find their mother tongue in
their lessons—the very words they heard from her lips and their playmates.
How different from groping their way in the dark, in reading a language they
know nothing about. In the former case their judgment would not only be in
exercise, but would also assist and help to keep them right; whereas in the
latter case their judgment would give them no aid, the whole depending upon
their memory.
Were they thus taught first to read the Gaelic, and then to commence with
the English alphabet and the English pronunciation, and when reading, to
translate every word into Gaelic, it would not only exercise their memory,
but their judgment also, and encourage them to persevere, seeing they were
enabled to master the difficulties, being aided by one another as well as by
the teacher.
Is there no native Scotchman also that will stand at your bar to plead for
his mother tongue? Is that not the tongue, gentlemen, that many of you heard
from your mother’s lips, and that soothed you in the days of your childhood
? And ought you not to have the natural instinct to plead for it
yourselves?—to plead that the Broad Scotch should be the first language
taught in every part of Scotland, except where the Gaelic is spoken; and
when they could read their mother tongue, to commence at once with the
English alphabet and the English pronunciation, and when reading it to
translate every word into broad Scotch, such as have, hae; to, sae; of, o’;
with, wi, &c.
Before the time of the singing of birds shall ever dawn upon Scotland, the
Scotch must not only return to their native tongue but to their native
melodies also. Is it not a fact that there are no songs listened to in the
city of London with so much pleasure as the Scotch. I would not be surprised
although the native language and the native melodies of Scotland are
destined to give songs of praise to every part of the world where the
English language is spoken.
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