The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-08-07
The Scribe's Report.


Since our publishers recommend that
the Hill Country Club take a vacation,
we shall be obliged to condense con-
siderably the answers that have thus
far been received to the questiors of
the last three weeks, in order to crowd
them all into the space of single &C. re-
port" All the answers received have
been good; yet, as we select points
from each, it will hardly be practicable
to specify in all cases to whom credit is
due. All have given the following as
the eight principal characters of " Ham,
let" except that one does not count in
the Ghost, and gives Marcellus, an Off
Ger, in its place Claudius, King of
Denmark Hamlet, son of the late and
nephew of the present king; Polonius,
Lord Chamberlain; Gertrude, Queen of
Denmark Ophelia, daughter of Po-
lonius; Ghost of the late king, Ham
let's father; Horato, friend of Hamlet;
LdGTleS, SUI VI IOlOUluS.
The following is the substance of
answers given to the remaining ques-
tons of July 10: Hamlet's father was
believed to have been poisoned by
Claudius, his brother. The unseemly
haste Of the queen to marry the brother
of the king aroused suspicion. Added
to this, Hamlet received visit from
the spirit of his father, who revealed to
him the manner of his death, telling
how, as he lay sleeping in the garden
his brother poured poison in his ear:
"Thus was I, sleeping, by brothers hand
OF life, of crown, of queen, at once de-
spatched."
One member of our club who is
studying French very properly ques-
tons what the Scribe said of the pro-
nunciatiCn of sans in the same paper
For lack of space we could not be
very explicit and mentioned the word
song" as being the only English
word approaching the French sans in
pronunciation. The vowel, however,
has nearer the sound of in =" father"
and the nasal differs somewhat from our
ng in sound.
Our " lobster " question yet remains
unanswered, probably because none of
the boys or girls who know the answer
think it worth the trouble to write that
the lobster is not red while in the sea,
AID therefore the Frenchman made a
mistake who called him 6 the cardinal of
the sea-" 1t is the boiling that changes
the color of his shell to red.
The following answers by "Cousin
Polly" will serve as a summary of all
the answers received to the questions of
July II: "Tradition says that all wan
dering spirits flee at the growing of the
cock, and that at the festival of Christmas
this bird of dawning singeth all night
long, so at that season the nights are
wholesome since no ghost can walk
the earth, neither can fairies or witches
work their spells upon men. Refer
ence to this tradition is made in Ham
let, Scene l. When the Ghost first
appears to Hamlet he seems struck
with great fear, and addresses it trem.
blingly, asking it to reveal its purpose
and identity. The Ghost is silent
but beckons Hamlet to come with il
away from his companions. His
friends beseech him not to follow the
strange visitor, lest some dreadful
thing befall him. They try to hold
him back, but he breaks from them
and goes with the Ghost to a remote
part of the platform, where they con.
verse together. After revealing itself
to be the spirit of Hamlet's father, il
tells the story of the crime of Claudius
and bids Hamlet to revenge the deed
From the time of his interview will
the Ghost Hamlet was changed man
Being by his VOW consecrated to re
venge, he says:
Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressure
past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall liv
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter"
Among those who have sent answer
to the enigma and questions of July q
is new contributor, who writes as fol
lows: Friends Of the Club:- Fo
sOmp time have heen rnuch interest OF