The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1890-11-08

The story az the invenfioa Of the EphsD'
crai Chinook Language.


Out OF the necessity Of universal
language for commercial transactions
has been evolved the harsh. discordant
volapuk. yet not generally accepted
It's only charm. II II possesses any, is
in the simplicity of its grammar. IL
has no horrid irregular verbs. like the
terrible aller which Is tke bette noir OF
all students OF French; nor has Il that
awful subjunctiyc mood of our own
language which the average Kansan
and Missourian. instead Of letting
severely alone. has laborlously wrestled
with until they have constructed Que
or two ycritablc proyincialisms and
which sound, when heard by the cult
waited ear. like an epitaph in York
shire country churchyard.
But years ago. in the early part Of
The century, the traders of the Hudson
Bay. the Northwest. and other fur COM
panies manufactured jargon out OF
the English, Indian. and French lan-
guage as means of communication
between themselves aud the various
Indian tribes. whose tongues aud dia-
lccts were like sealed book. The
Chinook enabled them to converse with
the white men. and converse. also
among themselves II is not Ian
guage. because IL has no grammar; II
is more euphonius than Volapuk. but
that is admitting little in favor of its
euphony. One word. like the French
on or faire, has dozen different mean
ings depending upon its relation TO
another word, easily guessed at la Chi
nook, but not SO easily in French II
one adheres 60 the irrevocable hat of
the Academy Although have
had no use for Chinook these twenty-
live years. have not forgotten il. aud
presume could carry on an ordinary
conversation without difficulty. To
give specimen of its character here
present the little nursery prayer Of
Now lay me down To sleeps"
Alta ni-ka meosum. ni-ka tick-ey
Sah-a-le syee. close manage ni-ka tum-
tunl. Spose nika mam-e-loose clip nj
ka mit-whit to-molla. ni-ka tick-ey
Sah-a-le syee qual-isum is-cum. ni-ka
tum-tum.N
Literally: Now sleep. | want the
Great Spirit 10 watch my soul. II
should die before ret up tomorrow
| want the great Spirit TO forever keep
my soul"
During the early days of the PENN
sular campaign certain officer OF high
position aud rank sent "A telegram To an-
other officer stationed in Washington.
who like myself. had been "hived" Ia
one of the posts on the Upper Pacific
for years aud understood Chinook ia
which iargou the message was written.
OF course it was intercepted, rs were
all suspiciously worded messages. and
brought To the great War Secretaty's
office, where cipher experts perspired
aud grew desperate over il. but could
make nothing out OF IL. Its capture
created terrible commotion; and
awful was the mystery surrounding it;
plot against the Government 1t must
be. aud no effort was spared to trace
IL 10 the sender. At last this was ac-
complished. and its harmlessness clear
Nv established; the weary officer before
Yorktown had simply asked his old
comrade to send down at first opportu-
nifty some bottles OF good whisky.
Stanton overlooked il. bnt warned the
principals not 10 indulge in such dan
gerous pleasantries again. - kansas
CuU Star.