The Lambertville press., 1860-03-07
For the " "PREss.
An Opinion.

Mr.. EDITOR When person pre-
sents himself before the public, as a
Professor of Reading and Elocution,
the public have right to expect, in
his speech, an Illustration Of, at least a
common acquaintance with some of
the plainest rules of English grammar,
and with the correct use of words. If,
however, such a Professor exhibits
either a profound ignorance or care
less violation of such rules, he justly
exposes himself to criticism.
At late exhibition, this Professor,
in his preliminary remarks, said eff
l see any noise here" Now, Mr..
Professor, if you ever s0aU noise,
please tell us how it looked ? What
were its dimensions What was its
color? Things presented to the eye
exhibit such qualities; please tell us
the Uisible qualities of the noise which
you saw
Again, he remarked, ~ want it un-
derstood distinct" Now, Mr. Pro
fessor, if you do not know the differ
ence between an adjective and an ad-
verb, I advise you to write down DIS
tsnctly everything you intend to say
in public. and submit it beforehand, to
some school-boy or girl correction
Your sentence, when thus corrected,
Would probably read thus, +" wish to
have it distinctly understood"
/ Again, this Professor said, " Every
person who reads The Raven form
their own ideas concerning it," Now,
a schoolgirl might inform him that
a verb should be in the singular num-
Der, when its subject nominative is in
the singular number, and that pro-
noun should be in the singular num-
her, when the noun, for which it stands,
is in the singular number. Hence the
Professors sentence should read thus,
Every person who reads The Raw
en- forms his own ideas concerning it. y
Some of the pieces were read in a
creditable manner. But, in these ca
ses, think, the readers had acquired
their skill from other sources than the
Professors tuition. He had taught
one Of his pupils to pronounce the
word Excelsior in such manner as
to throw the whole force of his voice
on the last syllable. EGcelsior is q
Latin adjective in the compartive de.
gree, and its accent is on the second
syllable. 1 think it would be very
difficult for this self-styled Professor
to produce any good authority for dis
torting this word by throwing its ac-
cent from its proper place to its fina
syllable. I can remember but one
example that might be cited in his fa
vor. That example is this the fish
women of Philadelphia, as they hawl
their scaly merchandise about thu
streets cry out at the top of thei
shriIl voices, Fine cat fish. I" The.
Invariably emphasize the word fish
drawling it out in such sharp tones a
almost to start the dead fish to foun
cling again, and greatly to disturb tn
ease of creation.
In reading "The Raven" the thun
der of his emphasis fell on the wor
more. If any poor monosyllable eve
| got greater imitation than did thi
word more, without bursting, it is
wonder
1t is well for the Raven that ther
was much more thunder than laght
ming in the Professors reading, or th
poor bird would have been shivefe
into thousand pieces, and its mourn
| ful dirge, no more, would have becom
a reality.
| 1t is very evident to the subscribed
| and, | think, to many others of thi
place. that this Professor understand
| the art of humbuggipg, much bette
| than be understands the art Of Reat
ing or Of Elocution, and that the none.
pocketed by him in this place, wa
much more for value expected, than Il
value received.
JUNIUs.
Lambertmlle, March 6, $50.