The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1884-09-04
A LOST
dew the English Lost Their He aIG
Americana Their G's.

Americana Their G's.
1t is sometimes II painful surprise +"
hear a stranger whose face we have bser
admirirg speak. 1t is ~ il toads and
frogs fell from his lips, NJ from thu
naughty girls mouth in the old fair.
story. Or IL The words are jewels they are
a. csiunei and marred, 81 mingled Wit
base alloy, that the contrast oetween the
GOOD Thought and the i'm.
1erlcct venicie OF conveying 4
= painful. A Young woman $1,000
asst winter before "a noble painting in ~
.rt collection. She herself was n"
mean artist. Her reputation AZ a critic
vas good. With u fine face and hgurr,
she was noticeable sven in the crowded
gallery. On being pointed out to /.
Stranger as Miss Native Genius, he
Drew near to her hear words of criticism
10 a friend beside her. There was u mo
ment's pause. Then, in the silence, the
words Smote upon his ear: "i,ow ri,7
the drorin' ISL Unconsciously, she
nad spit out u TOAD.
1t is curious to see how certain accl-
leuts have Oyertaknn the Engllsh Ian
rllye, and how generation alter re era
ion OF those who speak it, perpotuate
hese efforts, rather than repair them.
How, for instance, does it happen that h
a taken FROM one word where 1t belong
and given to another thai; would do yer!
well without it? Why is Z treated in
ne same wavE BY what fatality was
Kitchen evcr converted into kitchlng
arden into garding, md noun
ain into mountiagH me sc, con
many homes throughout New England.
Still, it is not of frequent enough occur
renee to account for the missing K III
other words. Where il the & that be-
touns on scores OF words that end in
ing? Ii is often missed in England, and
in Scotland it is almost unknown; BIO
sonleway, in that soft. musical tong
there IL so much ellison that one docs
not 20 much notice the omission OF the z.
But this side the water, from Maine t.
rexas. here are everywhere yawning
abysses down which the & has been
NryDped and never been found again.
The child that begins to lalk-tv using
such words "a goiu', doin', SEEM, eatin':
that goes through the primary AND
grammar school cipherin' and parsin
and Is occupied in the high school with
romposin' and translatin', will wake NJ
some day %percbance 10 Il knowledge oi
fho atrocity Of such pronunciation, only
20 find himself or herself Il slave to a
nabit as firmly liked and difficult To
Ours rs IN olithA o'i '
IF the sea was easy to shake off III
comparison. If he attempts 10 pick ny
= and put it where it belongs in ono
c;lsp, he forgcts it in the next; and he i
at last so overwhelmed with the number
Of words with participial ,endings-or
endings as he would say-that he gives
hem all up in despair. and lets the e.
i.du of one by one, dotting the back
round of his speech at intervals lik,
untatoes laid on. upon the ground for a
.oiato race. But he will never win the
race; he will never gather them up int
The basket.
tn, is no tritling matter. 1t is un-
fortunate to let u child grow ap with
habits of speech that will submit him to
The sensation of inferiority when he is
vita cultivated people. AT 2 years Old
IL Is - easy to say going rs goin'. After
'goin'" has been used for twenty years,
going" sounds to such a speaker hare
and formal, and ninety nine times GU
of a hundred it will meyer be acquired
Parents arc responsible for this slipshod
pronunciation, and they alone can find
Inc missing e.