Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1876-10-16
AN HUMBLE CRITICISM.

We would like to have i: under
stood here that We despise hypercriti-
cal persons wherever they may be
found. and that we have very small
regard for those who are so painfully
technical that they cannot think -
thought or do an act that is not strict
ly according to rule. Still we have
due reverence for ali the principles
of science, and always endesvor to
exercise a proper obedience To the
commands Of propriety and reason.
Therefore, while taking all the lati-
tude that q moderate freedom re.
Quires, We vet bow to the behests of
established rules, especially when
those rules are based upon common
sense. Some of our brethren of the
Quill de not do SO. and il is with u
view TO calling their mind to the
matter that we now write, They
must not suppose that we ADDRESS
them from standpoint of assumed
superiority. Nothing of the kind.
They as writers are superior to us,
but they are just little careless. II
is therefore with trembling hand
that we at this moment put pen to
paper to say anything at all about
them tina, is net meri,ed praise. Be-
fore proceeding We humbly dof our
hat, and pay them the cheap
tribute of a salute.
Our contemporaries have fallen
into the very loose habit Of saying,
when man receives an injury on
the head from the hands of another,
that So-and-so was shit over the
head. We have been riled SO many
times lately at seeing that expression
tina; we cannot forbear remarking on
it. II is quite ungram NAUTICAL, IL
! logical and nonsensical. One can
never receive an injury over the head,
! inasmuch as there is no part of one
over the summit of the crown.
When The Enterprise put in head
/ line the other day thst some old man
was beaten over the head by wo-
man with piece of iron, We natural
( IL Inferred tina, the woman held the
old man up by the heels and inflic-
ted the injuries about the trunk. The
Chronicle the following evening set
that inference quite aside by putting
the same faulty expression in sub
ordinate headline. The Gold Hill
News deity avoided it by bit of
circumlocution We believe it was
wholly accidental on the part Of The
| News.
When the logic of a literary con
struction is right, the grammar of il
does not amount To much. Logic is
the basis Of grammar. When a
rule Of grammar does not appear to
depend upon anything. one is,
in our opinion, at liberty to set il
aside. For sintance, the verbs bid,
dare, let. see, feel and make 1--WE quote
them from rusty memory do no,
take the sign Of the indnitive mood
and for no other reason than that tn,
best writers have grown into the
habit of using them without that
sign. Likewise the reciprocates
each other and one another, and the
propositions between aud among, ere
governed by no logical rule, bu
merely by custom. Hence we Shout,
not quarrel with contemporary OF
with anybody for using them indis
eriminately. But not SO with hittin.
fellow " over the head. If on
contemporaries persist in using tina
construction they will corrupt tn
young, and We shall-no. We shat
exchange with them just the same
The Enterprise will obiige US If j
will coajugate the verb to prove il
c the regular way. and not Us
= "pr,yen any more. Also If it vii
he less extravagant in its compari
sens and not liken human types /
: Niagara Fails or the Hudson river
e Bon ISoKRs0LL at 2eoFi, Ill, th
/. other evening said that he woul
!, be, eli that he has tina, Indian
a win go for Hayes and Wheeler, m
tuat they will be elected in Noveu
her. No Democrat present o4sre