Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1867-12-19
TO the Editor of the Dispatch.

To the Editor OF the Dispatcn.
{ (Pr,rate.
Last winter you kept a drinking sa-
loon. Now you are editing news
paper-an honorable employment. We
congratulate you. Editors, as a rule,
are poor, but some of them become dis
tinguished. Greeley and Brick Pome-
roy, as examples-they represent the
opposite extremes of distinction
James Brooks was once an editor OF
some merit, but he fell from grace and
went to Congress. We sincerely hope
the same may never be said of goa.
But you have much to learn. Your
education is defective. Your NOR
ais, If your editorials fairly represent
them, are rather loose. and your Ian
guage is that which is only heard in
the society of females of easy virtue,
or read in the editorials of Brick
Pomeroy. We write this in sorrow, not
in anger. Believing that in respectable
society, and with proper teaching you
may possibly be improved, we exhort
you to change your associations and
heed our lessons.
Grammar is something you have
perhaps heard of, but it is evident from
your editorials that you know little, if
anything, about it.
Syntax. one of its branches, is the
arrangement of words into sentences,
by certain rules. These rules you
should study, and try to avoid such
gross violations as that found in your
last issue, under the head of ''NArIoSAL
CoNvENrIoS OF MANUFAcrUREs." -
"The object is to urge that measures
be taken at once for full and large del
egations from all parts of the United
States to be present at the convention,
as the depressed condition of trade and
business throughout the country de-
mand the prompt and decisive action
of Congress to remove or change the
tax list in such manner as to lighter" F"
&c. "Demand" should be demands,
to agree with its nominative. "eondi-
tion," in the singular. ''To be pres
ent," and "to remove" have no nonri-
natives. Three violations of gram
matical rules, in one sentence, are suf-
ficient to make any subject muddy!
Correction: Strike out "to be present, !"
write demands, instead of demand, I"
and put period at Congress" and
you have a tolerably fair sentence.
Then go on and say what Congress
should do, in order to "lighten bur
dens, wholly unnecessary" &c.
In the next sentence you say "the
call is signed by thirty-one persons and
from thirteen States" The conjunc-
ton "and" is improperly used, because
'conjunctions connect verbs of the
same mood and tense, and nouns and
pronouns of the same case" As, In
the above instance ''and" is used to
connect persons" and "States," it
may be ruled out, as the case of
Estates" is governed by the proposition
"from"
The sentence would read better thus:
The call is signed by thirty-one persons.
who are from thirteen ates-muddy,
still! In your appeal to your patrons,
under the head of "PAY UP." you are
still using a verb in the infnitiye, in
stead of participal, although admon-
ished, in our last lesson, of its incor-
rectness. This, in the christian spirit
which is our most remarkable charac-
teristic, we attribute more to negligence,
than obstinancy. .... t.
You have a bad habit of calling i'll
names, which is no more than might be
expected, considering your associations.
Let Brick Pomeroy have the monopoly
of that business. A worse habit still,
is that of using slang phrases, for which
you appear to have a peculiar talent.
That perhaps, is to be attributed to
your early training. For your own
sake, as well as that of your readers,
you should endeavor to cure yourself
of such habits '~
Ifyou. your lips, ---7r
Would keep from slips,
Five things observe, with care,
Ofwhom you speak, . ~
y-r To whom you speak, -.-. .- ...-)
And when, and how, and where.
.ri .t .-" MOTHER GOOSE.
J We shall close this lesson by sex-
pressing the hope that one who is SC
apt to denounce what he believes to be
infractions of the Constitution. will see
the propriety of studying the "organic
law" which guards the purity Of the
peoples English. -r ..~