Article April 13, 1907 Issue

MRS. EDDY'S ENGLISH

[The following interesting article by Jessie B. Cooper appeared in the Kansas City Journal of June 26, 1899, and we feel sure that our readers will be glad to see it reproduced in the Sentinel.—Editor.]

I have been questioned in regard to a criticism offered on the English of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. So far as her grammar is concerned, I do not remember to have given it any thought. Of course, generally speaking, it is good. Farther than this, grammatical construction is of no importance.

It is a well-known fact that our greatest English writers break the rules of grammar. It is said that Browning stands the test of grammar better than any writer in the English language. Among American writers, Lowell is regarded as almost a purist in English and yet he breaks the rules of grammatical and rhetorical construction in vogue at the present day. Hawthorne's grammatical errors are proverbial and yet his English is classical, and Dr. Knowlton, when teacher of rhetoric in the Wisconsin University, used to say that if any one would study this author faithfully, he would become a master of English style. A young girl in one of our local high schools was told to read Washington Irving for instruction in prose composition, and replied that she could not enjoy Irving because he was so grammatically incorrect. Another, given certain writings of Addison to read for the same purpose, inquired why the class was compelled to read an author who wrote the English language so incorrectly. These pupils had learned the rules of grammar, but they were far from knowing what constitutes good English.

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