"The learner does not want to be made a receptacle of other men's words and thoughts, but to be made a thinker of thoughts and a wielder of words himself."

Some of us little realize how rapidly we think. With the swiftness of lightning our minds turn from man to man, from America to China, from our own planet to the most distant star and the infinite space beyond. Thoughts we need not lack if we are awake. The difficulty is to put the thoughts on paper before they fly away from us. It takes time to do the manual part of the work. Or, it may be that some of us, even with good minds, do little thinking. We may not have a large number of words at our disposal. If we have an abundant vocabulary, let us draw from it freely and continually. If we are without this means of expression, let us make haste to acquire it.

To be sure, if life is merely eating and drinking and sleeping, we need but few words, and no matter what our native tongue, we can soon make our wants felt in any country; but if we care to be mentally alive, - to take an intelligent interest in this kaleidoscopic world of ours, - we must have at our command a large vocabulary. Our reading will introduce us to every form of life; our conversation will bring us in touch with many types of men; and when it comes to writing, we need words without stint, not only that we may be able to express clearly any experience whatever, but also that we may write easily and rapidly. When our thoughts begin to come, they come with a rush, and then is the time for the words to fix them.

Exercise

407. A careful examination of the following extract will show the value of a copious and ready vocabulary. Make (1) a list of the words which seem to you particularly appropriate; (2) a list of the words for which it is difficult to find an equivalent.

Sunset Colors

Nature has a thousand ways and means of rising above herself, but incomparably the noblest manifestations of her capability of color are in the sunsets among the high clouds. I speak especially of the moment before the sun sinks, when his light turns pure rose color, and when this light falls upon a zenith covered with countless cloud forms of inconceivable delicacy, threads and flakes of vapor, which would in common daylight be pure snow-white, and which give, therefore, fair field to the tone of light. There is then no limit to the multitude, and no check to the intensity, of the hues assumed. The whole sky, from the zenith to the horizon, becomes one molten, mantling sea of color and fire; every black bar turns into massy gold, every ripple and wave into unsullied, shadowless crimson, and purple, and scarlet, and colors for which there are no words in language and no ideas in the mind, - things which can only be conceived while they are visible, - the intense hollow blue of the upper sky melting through it all, showing here deep and pure and lightless, there modulated by the filmy, formless body of the transparent vapor, till it is lost imperceptibly in its crimson and gold. - Ruskin.

126. Exact Meanings Of Words

An exact vocabulary is just as necessary as a large one. Dictionaries and other books give lists of synonyms, not because one of these words is as good as another, but because each, though somewhat like the rest, is in some respect different; and this very difference serves to point out a delicate distinction, which none of the other words would suggest. Many of us use lie or lay, teach or learn, may or can, bring or carry, without discrimination. Sometimes we come near saying what we mean; at other times we entirely miss the mark. It should be our habit, upon meeting a new word, to discover its proper meaning and to limit ourselves to that meaning.