Martha Spreull/Humanity

by Henry Johnston

CHAPTER III.

ON HUMANITY.

is true I am only a wumman, and maybe that is the reason I never could understand hoo the word Humanity ever got to mean the study o'n dead language. Onybody that has seen as I hae dune, may puir ludger laddies marching about till past midnight wi' their een starin' i' their heads, an' wi' big blabs o' sweat on their broos, tryin' to maister as muekle o' the Laitin tongue as wud pass them decently through their examination, will hardly wonder that I am a thocht dootfu' aboot the appropriateness of the name.

I min' some years sin' the Free Kirk Presbytery o' Glasca, on the motion of the learned Moderator, agreed to ask the General Assembly to dae awa wi' the Laitin discoorse required by students while in attendance at the Divinity Hall, and again when appearing before the Presbytery for license. What the Assembly did wi' the motion I canna tell, but I think that wis humanity i' the lairger sense o' the word. My faither, honest man-wha wis ordnar' weel edicated himsel', and wha wis deacon o' the Cordiners on three several occasions, no to speak o' havin' ance been nominated as Deacon Convener o' the fourteen Incorporations—held gey strong opeenions regardin' the edication o' ministers. Maybe his feelin's were edged a wee by the recollection that a brother’s son—first cousin o’ my ain— becam’ a complete bodily wreck in what they are pleased to ca’ the Humanity classes. He wis the only laddie wean we had i’ the twa families, and a gey throughither ane he wis; but frae his cradle upwards their hearts were set on makin’ a minister o’ him. Hooever, the poor creatur’ never wan the length o’ the College. The Laitin an’ Greek classes i’ the Grammar Schule were ower muckle for him. His grouth clean stoppit efter the first year, an’ though he continued to dwine away’ for a guid while, when the end did come, instead o’ his mind bein’ occupied wi’ the sweet consolations o’ the Presbyterian religion, he wis cut off i’ the springtide o’ his days wi’ the words o’ a heathen Laitin poet on his lips. It wis a great blow!

"Dead languages!" I think I hear my faither sayin’ as he wud stand at oor door, on the Bell o’ the Brae, argyin’ wi’ Peter Spale, the cooper. "Dead languages for a minister! What, I wud ask ye, Peter, hae we to do wi dead languages? It’s the leevin’ word we want, man, an’ nane o’ yer heathen gibberish. Lea’ that to the Romans, *wi’ their paters, an’ their masters, an’ their te deums. Ministers o’ oor perwashun should be grundit i’ the Doctrines, Original Sin, Effectual Callin’, an’ sic-like. It’s the essentials we need rung into oor ears frae the pu’pit, that they may gang to the inner heart an’ conscience, searchin’ as they gae ben. I grant ye, Peter, that the doctors may require the dead languages, That is richt eneuch, for it wud kill the maist o’ us, I’m thinkin’ if we kent what we got frae them i’ the shape o’ pheesic for the siller we pay. It is maybe as weel they should write their superscriptions in an unknown tongue, but we want plain an’ honest dealin’ frae the ministers."

"Dagont!" Peter wud say, as he planted his shouther dourly

against the jam o’ the door and tucked his leather brattie under his waistband, for there wasna a thrawin’er bein’ on the face o’ the earth than Peter. “ Dagont! Maister Spreull, I wunner to hear ye. Hoo can a man teach ye truth if he’s in ignorance o’t himsel’ ? Hoo can he expect ye to believe unless he is certain sure that what he is tellin’ ye is true, an’ hoo can he tell whether the Word is true or no onless he can prove it by gaun back to the oreeginal tongue ? Na, na, Maister Spreull; I dinna fa’ in wi’ ye there. Whenever ye fin’ oot that they canna put as muckle leamin’ intil a callant’s head as will mak’ a decent minister o’ him, I wud just advise ye to ’prentice him to a cooper; for as ye hae aften said yersel’, strength and ignorance is a’ that’s needed for a cooper.”

Noo, although as a lassie I had often listened to these argyments, I never thought seriously o’ them until I fell heir to the flett o’ rooms in George Street an’ had to fend for mysel’. Of course, it is true mony o’ my ludger laddies got through what they ca’d their Airts, Medical, and Theology classes easily eneuch, an’ had spare time to break my precious cheenie an’ ither household valuables. Still an-on there wis a guid wheen o’ them wha, like my ain first cousin, stuck sair at their Greek an’ Laitin, leaving’ it to this day a mystery to me hoo such studies ever had been associated wi’ the name o’ Humanity.^[1]

1. "This chapter, I fear, is founded on of a misconception of a scholarly word to Humanity studies the secular subjects a which liberal our lay education as have opposed littrcB divines, or their theare divinity course through ministers however, tois pass before obtaining license to preach the gospel. Humanity, now mainly restricted to studies in the Latin tongue.—Ed.