Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1878-04-12

assured that the elemental forces
wrestled in Titantic struggle with the
utmost resistance of man =: meaning,
probably. that hay bales were in vain.
Of course, the line Of the flood is the
thoater Of deSolation, is the losers by
it are the unfortunate victims Of this
uneNampled calamity a public
building, | find, is not nearly done, but
gradually approaches completion :
A notable criminal has not been put in
Jail, but has suffered the penalty of
his crime and entered upon his inear
ceratlon for the period Of ten years Y
\ slandercd man has not gone to lnw,
but instituted legal proceedings I
And finally, from this well Of English
undetiled | draw up tand now, by the
i by, III the editorial bucket) these spark
ling draughts; Considerations indubi-
tably tending to accelerate pacitica-
tion conditions which ought not to
dlsqualify i solitary indivldual": "cn-
tirely destitute Of intellectual nutri-
tion.'
Certain of the magazines can give the
newspapers odds i'll the matter of fine
writing. | could quote from popular
noveliSts who seem TO have been Mt "
great feast of languages and stolen the
scraps" to have lived long on the
alms-baskct of words.
Perhaps it is their example which
has launched fleet Of Unnecessary for
eign words and phrases on the stream
of talk. Some aliens there are, it is
true. SO useful, so modest, so desirable
that we ought to treat them rs kindred.
do not see how we could spare dpropoS,
enaui, depot (not i'll the sense Of station,
however, which is II bad use Of good
word, protcqe, Surveillance, prestige, .tilm-
boyam. 1t is Il convenience, at last, to
have in the family words 50 significant
as pdSSe, outre, prononce, menaye, piS-d-riS,
tete-a-tete, debut, and concise phrases like
esprit du CORPS, tout ensemble, or 8oloe .tdr
qaiente. But it would be better to write
them English fashion, us we do opropoS.
We might give up poae-monalae without
sigh, "purse or wallet" being
equal to our needs, Envelope is Il
good English word, and ought not to be
pronounced III the Yankee French
manner; while it should be reckoncd II
high crime and misdemeanor to use
such atfcctations us matinee muSicdk, bdl
costume, Soiree ddnSante. sdl,S ceremonies, or
the hard-worked and needless menu and
fecherche My old freind Harrison had
Il word to say on this point also, and
mentions that after tho conquest the
English tongue grew into such contempt
at court that most men thought ii no
small dishonor to speak any English
there; which bravery took his hold nt
the last likewise in the country with
every plowman, that even the very car
tiers began to wax weary of their moth
er-tonguc and labored to speak French,
which was then counted no small token
of gentility. But our Enlish ancestors
of the thirteenth century had a cloak
fer their sins ofsyntax which their heirs
of the nineteenth lack.
Highly gentcel us the French lam
guage is still considered, however, the
only words which it affords for the doors
of railway stations, the cabins Of boats,
the windows Of post-oilices are REM
ms" and Homn,es." We are SO polite
as to use Ladies and Gentemen's'
in the like places, Of indeed, we do not
tall into a lower deep of vulgarty, and
write up Gents" My Daily Food, the
morning paper aforesaid, adyertises sit
uations for" sales ladies, /" young ladies
to learn the scwing-machinc" and" pap
er-box making" and "ladies, Of the
ballet" Idetccted no lurking satire iii
lis allusion to the " gentlemen who en-
gineered the primary" and it is not
very long since great dignitary adj
dressed murderous mob as Gentle
men.
Now, why must we say ladies and
gentlemen when we mean simply men
and women? Why need we write " soli-
tary individual when we refer only to
one person? Perhaps person " is in
exact the root word signifying "a amask, Z"
nota human being. And it seems a
| pity that we neglect the Saxon wight, /"
which is too good to lose. Person, .
however, ought to emancipatc "indi-
vidual, 1T once and forever, from de-
grading bondage.
The old Laird Of Auchinleck frowned
on the intimacy Of his son and heir,
James Boswell, with "ane that kecpt Il
schulz and cad it an academc." think
the principle was sound, though the APP
plication halted in that case. But the
plain citizen may well hesitate, to-day,
q send his children to common schools
which arc advertised as scmimrics and
academies, to business schools which
fiaunt as commercial colleges, q schools
Of arts which arc polytechnic institutes,
and which have not the excuse Of Dr.
Johnson at their head
OF course, the engaging youth wlo
sold me the gingham Is clerk or
d gentleman engaged in mercantile
pursuits" lie would be braired with