The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-05-28
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE.
The Art of Putting Together Words That
Laugh and Cry.

The Art of Putting Together Words That
Laugh and Cry.
Did it ever strike you that there was
any thing queer about the capacity OF
written words to absorb and convey
feelings? Taken separately, they are
mere symbols, with no more feeling
than so many bricks, but string them
along in row under certain mysterious
conditions, and you find yourself laugh
ing or crying as your eye runs over
them. That words should convey mere
ideas is not so remarkable. "The boy
is fat" ''the cat has nine tails" and
statements that seem obviously enough
within the power Of written language.
But it is different with feelings. They
are no more visible in the symbols that
hold them than electricity is visible
on the wire, and yet there they
are, always ready to respond
when the right test is applied by the
right person. That spoken words
charged with human tones and lighted
by human eyes, should carry feelings,
is not so astonishing. The magnetic
sympathy of the orator one understands;
he might affect his audience, possibly,
it he spoke in a language they did not
know. But written words: How can
they do it! Suppose, for example, that
you possess reasonable facility in
grouping language, and that you have
strong feelings upon some subject,
which finally you determine to commit
to paper. Your pen runs along; the
proper words present themselves, or are
dragged out, and fall into their places.
You are good deal moved; here you
chuckle to yourself, and half dozen
Of lines further down lump comes into
your throat, and perhaps you have to
wipe your eyes. You finish, and the
copy goes to the printer. When it gets
into print reader sees it. His eyes
run along the lines and down the page
until it comes to the place where you
chuckled as you wrote; then he smiles,
and six lines below he has to swallow
several times and shuttle and wink tc
restrain an exhibition OF weakness
And then some one else comes along
who is not so good word juggler as yor
are, or who has no feelings, and sways
the words about little, and twists the
sentences, and beh old, the spell is gone
and you have left parces of writer
language, duly charged with facts, bu
without single feeling.
No one can juggle with words with
any degree of success without getting {
vast respect for their independent abili
ty. They will catch the best idea
man ever had as it flashes through hi
brain, and hold on to it, to surprise hin
J with it long after, and make him won
der that he was ever man enough t
, have such an idea. And often they viii
! catch an idea on its way from the brai1
to the pen point, turn, twist and i'm
prove on it as the eye winks, and in Al
1 instant there they are, strung hand i
hand across the page and grinnig bac
l at the writer: "This is our idea, oil
man; not yoursw
e AS for poetry, every word that expect
. to earn its salt in poetry should have
= head and pair Of legs of its own, to g
and find its place, carrying anothe
+ word if necessary on its back. Th
most that should be expected of an
T. competent poet in regular practice is
e serve general summons and notice ,
G action ON the language. If the wore
e won't do the rest for him it indicate
that he is out Of sympathy with his tool
q N. Y, Sun.