Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/362

338 read and our family correspondence is carried on only in German. I may therefore be permitted to express myself strongly on this point. And so I say to you when I see how German-American parents neglect to secure for their children the possession of the mothertongue, often from mere indolence, how they wantonly cast aside the precious gift—then my German heart and my American commonsense rise up in indignant protest. Parents who neglect to give their children an opportunity to learn the German language without effort are sinning against their sacred obligation to preserve the mothertongue. All the more do I honor a German-American society in which the German language is valued and cherished as it is here; it is doing an incalculable service to our contemporaries as well as to coming generations.

May the Liederkranz, in the unnumbered years that we all hope are still in store for it, remain as faithful to this noble duty as it has been in the half-century just elapsed—for the mothertongue is the bond which holds and binds its members together. The German mothertongue, the dear, strong, noble, tender, sacred mothertongue—may it live everlastingly here and all the world over! 



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My dear friend Bayard: What pleasant surprises your letters were! Not as if I had thought that you had forgotten me—for I knew you had not—but I did not expect to see you moved to such an expression of feeling by the little tribute I had paid to my departed friend. He was indeed a man of rare goodness, and his example well deserved to be held up to the contemplation of modern society.

I need not tell you that I have followed your course in