Telegram-herald., 1890-09-05
A CURE FOR SWEARING.
A New York Preacher Thinks He Has
Discovered q Good One.

a New York Preacher Thinks He Has
Discovered q Good One.
There Is IN one Of Or. George Mac
donald's novels very good little boy,
who has never said an aughty word IN
his life. Unfortunately, th.sis feature
of his character which fails to elicit the
profound admiration Of hls school,
fellows, and wicked plot IS concOcted
20 force the good little boy 10 swear.
He Is caught and held head downward
over stream, from which
painful position he is not suffered 10
escape until he has more than satisfied
his tormentors by the unexpected
strength OF ms expletlves. What par
ucular lesson Dr. Macdonald at
tempted to teach by this story
we do not know, and should be
AFRAID 10 guess. He could hard
ly have intended this moral that boys
ought not TO be so good as to attract
the envy and mischieyOusness Of their
fellows; and, rs far as moral guilt goes,
II IS obvious that the youngSter, who,
when upside down, came out with a
solemn "Domn" In broad Scotch, was
not responsible for remarks uttered
under such circumstances of coercion.
The question OF what constitutes bad
language" is rather difficult to deter
mine. There Is a bOTdeTland of vigor-
Gus exclamatlOns which can hardly be
dIgnified with the title of oaths.
The reform emanates from America,
and the plan for curing habitual
swearers Is the copyright Of q
Baptist minister who has chapel in
West Twenty-fifth-st. IN New York.
Unlike the owners of copy
right, however, this gentleman IN
vltes the whole world to make use of
the property in his invention. The
beauty of most discoveries lies IN their
simplicity, and nothing can be more de-
lightfully simple than the Baptist clergy
mans method of banishing bad Ian
guage from society. When he is unex-
pectedly stung by wasp, or encoun-
ters a nail on the floor when deuuded of
stockings, or barks hiSshins badly against
the leg of a table, he at once remarks
in a loud voice, "Beefsteak and
Omonsr' proceeding directly afterward
to observe. "Ham and eggs ~ and If
the tendency TO swear has not by that
time passed of, he adds, Bread and
butter and plate of Ice-cream - The
reverend gentleman assures the world
that, armed with this simple weapon,
nobody need in future ever swear at
all. Just Is much satisfaction" ne
quantity observes, 'is derived from
saying pork and beans as from emit
ing string Of swear words"
Ii the essence OF an oath is the call
ing on outside powers to witness a re-
mark, or TO assist the speaker, then il
/ can not be cOn,ended for a moment
/ that Great Cesar /" or "Great Hail
/ stones both American calculations
I are really 70 0e cOnfOundcd with ordi-
nary "swear words" 4 favoritc
! transatlantic exclamation is '.Bv CfDily''
/ borrowed originally from the negroes,
( hut can 10 be SAID that calling
upon n nOn-existant and entirely chi
mericaI divine OF this sort of person IS
really guilty of invoking outside
powers? The same thing maybe said
/ with eGual truth of .'By GOshl" Still
( % WI be allowed that these
I expressions have somewhat un-
/ pleasmglv suggestive sound abou;
/ them. and we. therefore, can heartily
/ commend the nautical exclamation
/ ''Shiver my top-lights" as 2 good sub
/ sttutc. especially for naval men
/ Jimmy Cuppsi' and "BY Hickory,
are also elaculstous for which a good
/ deal may he said They do not err or
| the side OF excessive iutelligibiliiy. bui
/ they perhaps sound a little less trivia
/ than the "Beefsteak aui Onlons." OF
/ the reverend ref0rmer.