every-day use. None amalgamate more easily with the political and social
life of the country of their choice. In normal times we do not think of
them as foreigners.

English has the right of way. Its composite character makes it the
language for every-day use. Thirty-five languages are spoken in this
city, but the assimilative power of English absorbs them all. The Public
School is the effective agent in the process. This is the melting pot
for all diversities of speech. Children dislike to be looked upon as
different from their companions, and so it rarely happens that the
language of the parents is spoken by the second generation of immigrant
families. Their elders, even when their "speech bewrayeth" them, make
strenuous efforts to use the language of their neighbors.

Seeing, then, that Anglicization is inevitable, why should we not cut
the Gordian knot, and conduct our ministry wholly in the English
language? This would greatly simplify our tasks, besides removing from
us the stigma of foreignism.

We are often advised to do so, especially by our monoglot brethren.
There are those who go so far as to say that the use of any language
other than the English impairs the Americanism of the user.

Some of the languages at present used in our church services may be of
negligible importance. The Slovak, Magyar and Finnish for example, as
well as the Lettish, Esthonian and Lithuanian of the Baltic Provinces,
will never have more than a restricted use in this city. The
Scandinavians and those whose vernacular is the Low German easily
substitute English for their mother tongue. Scandinavian is kindred to
English, while Low German is the very group of which, philologically