The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-06-01
our girls and Slam

Our OlrlS ana slang
A party of refined, educated people
who filled a country house last sum-
mer formed themselves by common
consent into a society for the Sup.
preston of Slang" The fines imposed
II penny for each and every infringe
ment Of the rule prohibiting the use
Of slang words or phrases-were drop
ped into a foreign missionary box be-
longing to a member. Much fun and
more serious reflection ensued upon
the workings of the constitution and
bylaws. The most careful speakers
were COMPOUNDED at finding themselves
convicted as transgressors, while col
lege boys and graduate girls declared
that bankruptcy stared them in the
face before the close of the season.
One merry youth, who ran up from the
city on Saturday afternoons TO spend
Sundays in the mountain retreat, ha-
bitually rendered a quarter of a dollar
10 the treasurer on aliglssing from the
carriage that had met him at the sta.
ton, with the request that he might
''be notified when the amount was
used up"
Pater5amRias was travelling abroad
when the society was formed, and
wrote home this dryly significant COM
ment:
"With regard to the IS. S. S. / have
only to remark that the conversion OF
the world is nor q mere question of
timer
The result of the establishment of
similar organizations In other families
and communities, with rigid enforce.
ment Of penalties, would astound mem
bers and ~lookers-on.
1t is easier to lay hold Of ready
made phrase that lies near the tongue,
than to formulate thought into cor
rect and forcible words. Just as cen
sure is cheaper than discriminating
praise and ore dearer than dirt. Al
child should be taught with the form
ing Of his earliest sentences, that
language Is the vehicle Of ideas, and
that he dishonors the thing carried BY
neglect of that which bears it.
Thought is To speech what the soul is
to the body. Our Girl should dread to
cast discredit upon her in~telleotr%:
powers by robing what she thinks
(Which is what she 80 in secondhand
rags, as much as she would shrink from
debasing her clean body by apparel
picked up In an old clothing store in
Chatham OF Baxter street.
The habit OF slang is so fearfulIy
contagious, and so nearly incorriglble
when fairly contracted that one is
amazed at the number and character
of those who yield to II. The ~sloyenly
thing comes to the lips against the
win Of the speaker, who has BATTERED
herself that she only uses in the des.
habilke speech, pardonable Gin her es-
timationl when she is with her fami-
liar friends.
Our Girl may be decorous of tongue
while in her guard, although not
fluent. She may not hope 10 emulate
the brilliant woman at her side, who
has thought it worth while TO stiidy
conversation as one Of the fine as wen
as useful arts. but she ulods on reason
ably well until she becomes ami
mated or enthusiastic, when aout flies"
the slang which is the everyday habit
of her speech. Bitter modification to
herself and those who love her is so
frequently the result Of the experience,
that wisdom might be bought by it.
Madame Recamier is reported to
have assigned as the secret Of her
well bred elegance Of department, her
rule Of behaving when alone as If un-
der the eyes of others. If our Girl
would lay to her speech with her
family and intimate friends, the rule
and plummet she essays to apply
when conversing with comparative
strangers, she would successfully over
come a habit which degrades her more
than she dreams of. She ought not to
feel It to be irksome tolbe Compelled
to abandon slip shod talk, but she
does, and, by tho very admission Of the
f6et, announces her slavery to what
sober reason condemns.
II silence Be golden, and speech