Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-09-02

from recent work by French, entitled
I" A Select Glossary Of English Words,
used formerly in senses different from
their present." in which are traced the
changes of meaning which many cur
rent words have undergone:
Uinsate-At present the tempera-
ture of q region, but once the region
itself. ...-.s -..r Is ~.
Corpse-Now only used for the body
abandoned by the spirit Of life, but
once for the body Of the living man
equally as of the dead.
Desire-''To desire" is only to look
forvard with longing now the word
has lost the sense of regret or looking
back upon the lost but still loved.
Ensure-None of our Dictionaries,
as far as can observe, have taken notice
of an old use of this word, namely, to
betroth, and thus to make sure the flu.
ture husband and wife to each other.
Hag-One of the many words which,
applied formerly to both sexes, are now
restrained only to one. &. tt
Observation-Disclosures any antic fool {;
but once restrained to the quack doc
tors who at fairs and such places of re-
sort having mounted on bank or
bench, from thence proclaimed the vir-
tue of their drugs. .......
Ostler-Not formerly, as now, the
servant of the inn, having the care of
the horses, but the inn-keeper or host,
the "hostler' himself.
Shreac-There are at present no
"shrews" save female ones but the
word, like so many others which we
have met with, now restrained to one
sex, was formerly applied to both.
Sonnet-A" sonnet' now must con-
sist of exactly fourteen lines, neither
more nor less and these with fixed
arrangement, though admitting GER
tain relaxation of the rhymes; but ''son-
net" used often to be applied to any
shorter poem, especially of an amatory
kind.
Stove-This word has much mar
rowed its meaning. Bath, dollhouse,
any room wher, air or water were ar
tifcially heated, was a ''stove" once.
Z0bacconist-Now the seller, once
the smoker Of tobacco.
Uncouth-now uniformed in manner,
ungraceful in behavior; but once SIM
ply unknown.
Wsnce-Now to shrink or start
away, as in pain from a stroke or
touch but, as far as I know, used
always by our earlier authors in the
sense of sto kick"
WHAT CONSTITUTES A RICH MAN.
Thirty years ago, says a New York
correspondent of the Charleston C0ur-
Ter, man in New York was extremely
rich who was worth 100000, and
very few in New York were worth that.
There was old Nat Prime, of the firm
of Prime, Ward 4 King; John G.
Foster, Robert Lennox, Stephen Whit
ney-men worth quarter Of million.
Old John Jacob Astor was worth three
or four millions. The richest men
We're connected with commerce. There
were then some five or six leading COM
mercial firms, such as G. G. Il s. How
land, Goodhue & Co., Grinnell, Min
turn & Co., and Spofford Il Tilcston.
Now there are as many hundreds of
leading firms, and a man only worth
$3.50, 900 is considered man in mod
crate, not to say INDECENT, circumstan-
ces.
Wm. B. Astor is worth about thirty
five millions {; George Law is worth ten
millions, SO is Stephen Whitney. Com
modore Vanderbilt will not cut up less
than eight millions. Dozens of per-
sons are worth FIVE millions, and mere
millionaires are quite common, and to
furnish list Of that poor class would
use up several columns. The old mer-
chants who became very rich never
made it in trade. When they had done
q good years business, they drew out
So, 1000 or $4,000 and bought real
estate. The Courier's correspondent
says, 81 passed a lot Yesterday that
the present owner once paid So, 900
for and has refused 100000 for it
dozen times" The profits Of the
merchants, small or large, invested
from year to year, years ago, have
made them vastly wealthy, without their
exactly compromising how it was
done.
PRINTING THE BIBLE.--It is fact
not generally known, that the printing
of the Bible is monopoly in England.
Only the Queens Printers, Eyrie &
Spottswood, and the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, have any legal
right to produce copies Of the Scrip
lures. The patent was granted in the
reign Of George w., and is very strin-
gent. In Scotland and Ireland, the
restriction vas abolished some years
since, and notice has been given in the
British Parliament, Of motion to
discontinue the monopoly in England,
after the present patent expires, in
1860. The reason Of it, originally,
was to secure accuracy, but the author
lied editions have contained more typo
blunders than those printed
in Scotland. re
How TO EDUcATE.-To rub book
leaves on the back Of child and beat
in the learning with birch, is to edu-
cate. To educate young ladies is to
let them know all about the ologies,
the onomsses, the ifcs, the scks, and
the ssastics, but nothing about the sings
such as sewing, knitting, washing,