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The people of this country are commonly supposed to be in a high degree practical, and the word is often used in praise of Americans as possessing a clear vision of the hard facts of life and as governing their conduct accordingly, so as to get the best results possible. The typical American is supposed to be a practical man, not an idealist or a misty theorizer absorbed in meditations that lead to nothing. But the same word may also be used to imply a reproach, not the less real for being covert; it may suggest that ours is a civilization which looks upon material prosperity as the highest good and cares but little if at all for whatever is intangible. That our colleges and universities attract a large number of students of capacity and industry is good evidence that the young men of this country do not all understand success in life to be synonymous with the acquisition of wealth. But it cannot be said that we have in our universities all the students we want. There is still room for a great increase in their numbers before we need feel that there is any risk for us of an intellectual proletariat.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1902
References
Note 1 in page 91 An address delivered in Cambridge by Professor Sheldon, as President of the Association, on the 26th of December, 1901.—Ed.
Note 1 in page 97 The American dictionaries I have consulted recognize both pronunciations. That different persons are responsible for the letters a and e in the Oxford dictionary seems to show plainly the division of usage in England.
Note 2 in page 97 It is perhaps necessary to say that no slur is intended to be cast on the great dictionary mentioned above. Its very excellence tempts one to ask of it more than can perhaps be justly demanded.
Note 1 in page 100 It is curious that there is a spelling corps in the oldest known French poem belonging in the ninth century. But we may feel pretty sure that ever since the Norman conquest at least no p has been pronounced in this word in French.