To Ward Small Tongues

3ᵈ of 6ᵗʰ mo., 2026

Oft it is ſaid, along the ſame path of thinking that I myſelf trod as a child, that it would be the beſt if all mankind ſpoke only one tongue. Thus, trade, trucecraft, wayfaring, and all kinds of other things would be made eather, and that this outcome was to be wiſhed for. I do not gainſay that, yea, theſe things would be eather, but the wounding loſs with which we, as Men, would be ſtricken would be a far greater than would the good of a one-tongued world be. There are, in my mind, three ſtrong arms of this thoughtwording.

The firſt is that tonguelore bears upon itſelf the mark of the mind of Man. That is what is truly made known in tonguelore: our own minds. Each wordſet, tobearing widely in the ſpeeches of the world, is a ſmall witneſs to our thinking. Each loudwending, each flight of wordmaking, and each onrine with the ſpeaker of another tongue affords us worthy knowledge of our own ſelves. If we hope to come to a ſturdier and cleaner underſtanding of menly brains, we cannot loſe any loreware that our ſundrineſs of tongues now gives us.

The twaid calls rightwiſeneſs to our minds. So often in eretide have evildoers beſet and belittled the tongues of weaker and leſſer lands! This happens ſtill; ſee the plight of Gallwelſh in Frankland or Hawiiſh in the Sandwich Iſlands; in these lands, unfairneſs and evildoing have driven theſe ſpeeches to death’s edge, and ſo it falls to us to undo the ills of the world into which we were born. The death of ſpeeches is ſo oft the harveſt of the ſeeds of wrongwiſeneſs! Could you ſtand to come upon a bleeding man, the deep-red water of his body flowing out upon the ground, and think that, as the wound was wrought at ſome earlier time by another man, that you had no need to help him?

The third and laſt arm of this writ raiſes fairhood aloft. Who would dare hint that the lofty ſingplays of Finniſh ought to be no more, or that the Windiſh leethwrights ſhould ſet aſide their quills, or that the yedding tale-tellers of Canarish ought ſhut up their mouths and be heard only in Engliſh from this day forth, or in ſome other world-tongue? The great, sparkling toyglaſs of menly speech ought to be kept if on no other grounds than the bright lovelineſs of hearing a ſong ſung in another tongue, or of ſeeing another writing-way ſtride over a leaf of an outlandiſh book.

I thus feel that we are called to raiſe up the little tongues of the world, that they may ſhine ever brighter and longer. Let us give heed to theſe ſproutings of the mind of Man, theſe long-abiding wounded ſouls, theſe fair and wonderful things with which we are bleſſed. Do not liſten to the man who ſees no worth in them!