THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
expression, and thus an independent use of the language, with a comparatively small vocabulary. Conscientious reading and well-conducted conversations will then quickly enlarge the vocabulary and develop the facility of expression. But I cannot lay too much stress upon the fact that the free and exact rendering of one's own thoughts in writing is the most efficient exercise in acquiring a language. In mere conversation we are apt to skip over difficulties by permitting ourselves vaguenesses and inaccuracies of expression which would sternly demand correction—and correction, too, easily kept in mind—when the written word looked us in the face. To quicken the efficacy of this exercise requires, of course, a teacher able not only to pound grammatical rules into the head of the pupil, but also to stir up, through study of the language, a mentally active interest in the subjects spoke or written about. Mme. La Princesse de Beaufort filled these requirements to a high degree, and the hours which I passed with her have always remained with me an especially agreeable memory.
Another similarly effective method of acquiring foreign languages without a teacher I will explain later in connection with my study of English. Thanks to my teacher, I rapidly acquired such fluency and ease in the French language, that I could, and did, write short letters to French journals, which were published without correction. I regret to say that in the course of time I have lost some of that facility in consequence of a want of practice. For this I reproach myself, because one may without difficulty, also without constant opportunity for conversation, retain a complete possession of a language once learned by simply reading to one's self every day aloud a few pages of some good author.
I continued with zeal to study French history, especially that of the time of the great revolution, and as France was still
[ 349 ]
