Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-12-19

and the people OF Old Virginia on the
south and east. No one ut all acqusin-
ted with the Scotch-Irish dialect would
be at loss to identify the main pecu-
liarisies Of speech exhibited IN al the
region indicated. The Pennsylvania
says ssstrenth" and ''Ienth' for strength
and length. He says scannle" and
'shannIe" and 'sbunnIe. . for candle, and
handle, and bundle. He says s'T want
outs and II want down." for 81 want
| 10 ael OUT and e want 70 Get dewn.l e
He saws he will wait son you when
| he means that he will wal. ''IoF" you.
If a person has had slight sickness,
and has speedily gotten over il, the
Pennsylvania will say Of him that "he
took SICK" but il was only 50 bEash, !"
and he soon got "quite better" The
PennsyIvanian often uses ''nor" for
"than" after a comparative adjective.
One thing is "more nor another" or
better nor another" So tili''
is often substituted for "to" in the Penn
sylvania dialect. A horse comes till
the stable, or boy till the school-house.
The word ''into" is much used for sin"
in Pennsylvania A horse will be said
to have q white spot into his forehead,
or field TO have fne spring Of water
into il. The Pennsylvanians use the
word "wheaever" TO signify "as soon
as" Thus il will be said, "whenever
the carriage came, the lady got an"
In Pennsylvania they ''lift collection, !"
and ''take up church." and ride to town
Sin a machine" with "horse-beast"
drawing the machine. Moreover, ifthe
horse is a lively animal, what some
call 'skittish," he will be called in
Pennsylvania "wild beast" Now,
all these peculiarities are evidently of
Scotch-Irish origin, and by means of
them, and others like them, we can
trace in our country The movements and
the influence of this element Of popu-
lation.
There is a feature Of our dialect
which, historically considered. seems a
complete puzzle. New England and
the population to the west Of her, and
then Virginia, agree in an extensive
use of the Italian sound of the vowel a,
and also in the suppressed sound OF the
letter r; while between these regions
to wit, in all the region OF New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Northern
Maryland-the narrower sound pre-
walls, and fuller cpnsonantal sound Of
=. Thus in New England and Virginia
they say Ia in far) "calm" and "balm,"
and ''laugh" and grass" and "past"
and "commaad;" while in the region
between they say Ia in fat) calm, balm,
laugh, grass, past, and command. So
in New England and Virginia they say
"fo-ah," "mo-ah, ''caud," "betteh;"
while in the region between they say
"four, more, cord" and "better."
So the people carry their pecullari-
ties of speech along with them wher-
ever they 60. And we may trace the
streams of migration as they flow
through the land by the dialects of the
different portions of the newer coun-
tries. It is interesting 10 find that the
great laws which have governed the
migrations of nations since the begin
ming of history have controlled the
more limited movements Of the differ
ent portions ef our own population.
Since the beginning, migrations have
been chiefly on parallels of latitude.
Movements to the north or to the south,
movements on meridian lines, have
been incidental to these. They have
been little more than eddyings on the
margin OF the great tidal current.
But not only have the migrations OF
nations been chiefly on parallels of lati-
tude, they have been, since the period
Of recorded history. mainly migrations
westward instead of eastward. Not
only m modern times is 1t true that
Westward The course Of empire takes its wayI''
The very first notice of any movement
OF the earth's population is in the fol-
lowing language, in the early chapters
of fhe book of Genesis "Andit came
TO pass as they journeyed from the cast
that they found plain in the land of
Shnar; and they dwelt there" The
whole movement of the race since
the dawn OF its historic existence has
been movement towards the setting
sun.
Well, so has it been in our country.
The movements ofthe people have been
chiefly westward upon parallels of lati-
tude. The best illustration of this law
rs probably that afforded by Ohio. In
travelling across the State OF Ohio from
north to south, we find we pass through
three distinct layers Of population. The
layer on the north is essentially New
England; that across the middle Of the
State is equally Pennsylvania; then
that upon The south is a mixture main-
ly OF New Jersey and Virginia and
Kentucky people. The dialeclic DIFF
ierences make known these zones of
population beyond mistake.
1t remains TO speak briefly ofour dia-
lects as illustrative OF manners and Gus
toms OF life. All that will be said on
tins branch Of the subject win be in the
way Of giving as specimens few such
illustrations.
In New England they make use Of
the points Of the compass In designating
the direction Of movements and the re-
lation Of localities to an extent not
known in other parts OF the land. They
do not so much use the terms forward
and backward, to the right hand and to
the lelt, as the terms north aud south
and east and west. If a traveller in
quires his way. be win be told 70 take
the road leading east until Il forks. then
take the north fork. etc. The habit
extends to the most limited movements