The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-08-22

evil at best, he is made . greater nui- sapce than he has been. Yet it Is sur prising how maay influential writers, especially in England, insist on con- founding the terms. Dickens does so over and over again in "Great Expecta- tions" read the other day iu the Mark Lan< Exbress of persons who "jerk the reins in that aggravating manner" A pamphlet lately published in London, and British museum, is entitled "Aggravating Ladies'" Most surprising of all perhaps is the following, from the WestmfHsker Revt<v October, 1881, p. 284. Scott edi. tion): "rhe selections from tne Giaour are exceedingly aggravating."
 ReSEiOe for HHeaiy.-A restive horse is lazy horse tn at wants to rest snd by no means, as sometimes seems to be sup posed, a nervous horse that wants to go.
 Fa6HloHs for very ,gre0t-One may properly speak of the fabulous wealth of an impostor, meaning the property that he falsely pretends to have. But what nonsense it is, when one thinks of it, to say that lady's jewels are of fabulous vaiue," meaning that they cost great deal of money!
 ZSmperanee and fyoteetive Without expressing any opinion as to the advis- ability of indulgipg in alcoholic bever- ages, one may properly denounce, from grammatical considerations only, the ab- surdity of speaking of man who abiures them entirely as strictly temperate" :" How can one be temperate in the use of that which he does not use? And sim ilarly, without expressing any opinion as to the wisdom of national policy of limiting importations from foreign coun- tries, one may point out that the name protective tariff as applied to tariff by which this result is brought about is objectionable for the reason that it begs the whole question at issue. Such a tariff restricts, Hmits. Whether it really pr0kecfs anything, in any proper applica- ton of the term, is disputed.
 CfrcHmJtaSce for eUsNf-We contin- uAlly hear people say that they will Ire late circumstance that occurred under their own observation. A circumstance occur? They might as we'll speak of the motionless scenery at a theatre as per forming.
 1(sHAc"D iOh UCUUSG.- HIS seems to have arisen partly from an inn agined relationship between the verb de- mean and the adjective nean, and partly from the fact that the verb is used in a good many rather familiar passages in old and standard writers in such con- nection that de6ASe would have made equally good sense. A recollection of the noun aFmsan0r, which is certainly not synonym rus with ae6aseMenk, ought to be sufficient correction of the error.
 Merehan!for fradesman or sHobkesbey. In the older and better use of tho word 1t was strictly confined to persons who carried on foreign traffic. To call retail dealers merchants" is to multiply syn. onyms uselessly, at the cost of losing a very convenient distinction.
 SHstatn for reeefve.-Chiedy in daily paper language "the victim sustained oruise on his left arm" We'll, it would have been remarkable if the victim had n0f sustained wound of that de. scription. The writer was of course trv- ing to say that the person yeeefvsd the wound. How hard it is, sometimes, to be simple!
 Liable for Akely.-A wrongdoer is liable to punishment. To say that he is liable to escape" meaning that he is ltkeIy to escape, is to commit an error that is really comical in its absurdity, when one compares the true meaning of the sentence with the idea intended to be conveyed.
 The list stretches out indefinitely; one knows not where to stop. It seems that on this subject, as on some others, there is verily need Of line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there q a good deal. Yet one word of caution must be added. The doctrine that words should not be used to convey ideas foreign to their real meGping ought never to be so perverted as to interfere with their employment in a secondary, deriva- tive, or hgurative sense, the legitimate outgrowth of their primary significance. A single illustration will make this clear. The verb to eSdo,se means to put on the back of; and the United States post-office department informs the senders of regis tered letters, by placard displayed in many post offices, that such letters Ire quire the name of the sender to be en- dorsed on the face of the envelope l /" Endorsed on the face! The writer of this notlce-who doubtless imagined that s"do,sed was merely more elegant sym onym for written-might as we'll speak of hoisnng load down. But no small quantity of what venture to think rather wooden-headed criticism has been ex. pended on the use of the same verb to signify abPyove or Sanetion, as in the common expression, to endorse candi- date or movement. It seems to be for. gotten that in the usual application of the term the endorsing of note or a check we have always in mind, not only the fact that something is actually written on the back of the paper in question, but also and chiefly the far more important fact that the writer of the endorsement, in putting down his name, agrees to war rant and defend the holder of the docu- ment against loss resulting from his con- hdence in it. In other words, he may be. said to 6aek 70 the original maker. And just as it is indisputably good English to