Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-07-24

nun, MS daughter, MISS Maoti, MS guest,
Miss fitzpatrick, and his near neighbor.
Mrs John NJ Adams. on a row which
extended over the space, perhaps, of two
hours During all this time Mr. Elwrn
was in excellent spirits, and expressed
great pleasure in the many objects Of inter
est which We saw along our route. Al our
landing place he made quite large collcc-
tion Of beautiful pebbles polished by centu-
rie> OF s,trition, ami declared his Intention
If CARRYING them home. When however
il was proposed by some one that We walk
back to our starting point. in order to en-
JOY some inland views. he said be did not
feel eQual TO he task, but should have 10
- back in the boat. which he did aud we
all accompanied him Saturday afternoon
lie rode to East Machia, and back but felt
too much fatigucd, lie told Us. 10 attend
the reception in the evening en- Monday
morning on the steamer City OF Rich
mond, on the passage 70 Bar Harbor. he
spent much OF his time walking The deck
forward once he said 20 u Il am not
feeling very well this morning am just
iittle >ea,ick, but am trying to get
through"
Nj Eiwcl devoted nearly his whole life
70 newspaper work He was one IT the best
known men in The state. and he had at the
same time an extensive acquaintance
throughout, New England and even further
sway His name a. the editor Of the
Transcript ~as known nearly all over The
English speaking world. He was printer
ny trade III, editorial work commenced
on the Northern Iiogser in I.t-. Later he
became the head editor Of the Portland
7r1nscriw. position which be held until
tie time OF his death.
A man u sterling worth, he ~as found
upon the light side Of every great question.
aud made his paper a tremendous power
the influence OF which no man can measure
In the advancement, OF moral and intel :
icCtuai Interests
H. stood for temperance and right.
For mora worth and virtues might;
Hurled words. ike hand-greuado<. 'gstn.t
wrong,
Aud helped each worthy cause along.
One code, though human or divine
W ith emphasis. and line on line.
He urEed for all. whaterr their place.
Their color. rank, or sex, or race.
Although Mr.. Elwells best work for the
past forty-tWo wears has been given 10 his
paper he has found time 10 do considerable
outside literary work, the most OF it being
Of 3 historical nature. and dealing with
his native city. Boys Of 35." Fraternity
Papers" Business Houses OF Portland, ="
Portland and Vicinity" and an Account
Of the Editorial Excursions 10 New Sweden
10 1855 and 1875" are his principal works.
Beside these. several carefully prepared
papers in the collections OF the Maine
historical Society, of which Mr.. Elwell
was a valuable member, remain as monu-
Inents to his painstaking lsbor as histori-
an Mr.. Elwell was one Of the founders
Of the Maine Press Association. being its
t-st vice presiden. and afterward for three
years president of the association. In
1871 Mr.. Elwell made a trip to Europe.
writing 8 series Of valuable letters from
there TO his paper. The Transcript of
LAST week contains a letter from him dated
the Maine Press Association. This is the
last work for his newspaper which he was
permitted to do. At the close of this he
promises another. which will never be writ
ten
Il beg TO inquire of the AMERICAN.
whose grammar. it seems TO me, is gen
orally the nearest perfect of any paper in
Maine, where it finds its authority for "a
five-years colt?" Would you say i've
dollars bill. or ten-feet pole, or al eight
days clock? If not, why a ive-yesrs-old
colt; l see this expression often enough
in other papers, but believe it is the first
opportunity | have had of asking the old
school-master in the AMERICAN office, why
he uses It. AN Ex-SCHooL-
The rule governing such expressions as
those mentioned above. is the following
when the adjective is necessarily plural,
the noun should be made SO too :" as "a
five years old colt" The adjective .fre is
necessarily plural and the noun years. to
which it is Joined. should, according to
the rule, be plural too. The exception is
that" lin some peculiar phrases this rule ap-
pears TO be disregarded," as "a flve-dollar
bill, "a ten-foot POLE" ian eight-day
clock "a two-cent stamp" etc. "A five
years old colt" and "a ten-foot pole" are
by no means alike in their grammatical
construction. In the latter ten foot" is
Joined TO 8 noun; in the former, five
years" is used TO modify the adjective old.
The phrase may be transposed as follows
A colt five years old, in which case every
one, We think, would admit that years
should be plural. For reasons such as
these We are decidedly Of the opinion tina,
the phrase, 20 Eve years old colt" is
correct.