The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-05-20
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The Brief and the DiffnsA.

Brevity is not only the soul of wit,
says the Galveston Net6S, but, ordinarily,
the mark of good common sense. Al
most all good things, however, may be
carried to extremes, and when newspa-
pers not only become sententious, but
undertake to make single word do duty
for paragraph, they often become as
unintelligible, or are liable to be inter-
preted in as many ways, as the oracles
OF the weather prophets. Some of the
papers have fallen into the habit of drop
ping into monosyllables, which are un-
Ineligible except Immediately where
the facts referred to are already known
-as ''rain, ''wind, +" "dry," sickness"
ga man Dead" and the like phrases,
which would barely answer as head lines
in most cases. This is little too much
of the style which logicians cali calegot-
matte, when single word is capable of
doing duty for a sentence, predicate or
proposition, as distinguished from the
ten categories of Aristotle, where the
substance, quality, quantity, relation,
action, passion, time, place, situation,
and habit of the thing described were
given or understood. But there is no
style SO curt as to be Objectionable as
the habit some people have of drawing
everything, under and above the earth,
past and present, into every incident
they undertake to relate until the reader
or listener loses all idea of the subject
supposed to be in hand, and like the old
man who was tired of waiting for his
wife to finish counting the beans, calls
on Gabriel to blow his horn and end the
trouble. Widow Bedott gave some ad-
mirable specimens of this difusive
style, and the central City Item adds the
following:
81 seen you looking for an item last
week, said freckled man with small
watery eyes, dashed with blue, 60 our
local. "Do yer want one now?"
He was cordially answered in the affirm
alive, and gave in the following testi-
mony.
/" Ike Bolivar and me had narrow
escape from horrible death, which was
prevented by Joe Moran, who first went
to Pixies Peak in '56, and afterward mar
ried into the Runnels family as lived
down by the ford in Steuben County.
York State, where Hi Griffin used to
have his blacksmith shop-and cussed
poor man he was to shoe horse-no
better'n saloon hummer anyway, and
his poor wife-married one of the Plat
ter gals-who first gave the sack to Job
Duncan, who run RATS down the Ale
gany, and in winters saved shingles and
tiddled for dances. Yes, and he was a
boss to rassel-seen him stand ali day
Fourth of jules in ten-foot ring and
flop the best man that tackled him. but
he never laid up cent, and seemed to
allus take the world Just as easy as lying,
for he was just what Aunt Susan Parker
called shiftless, and liklier old maid'p
Susan didn't bind shoe in North Adj
ans, Mass place where she was raised
and smart ? why her and doc" RAM
say-allus called him ''Doc." ever since
he sucked the rattlesnake pizen oute'n
Jake Biglow's leg-her and 'sDoc."
could hoe rowof taters in one time and
two motions and lay the last weed on the
left side to wunst. Thar was brother
Of Susan's who peddled corn shelters.
and afterward growed Injun seed for
big firm in Sandusky, Ohio-well. his
name was Wash. Parker married into
the Biles family down in Tioga County.
Penn. got into scrape, though. with
another gal" The local gave the mar
rator of this lucid and closely connected
sensation one ghastly smile and fed.