The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-05-11
| ne queen S EHgIISH MuI-
dered by Those Well
Acquainted With the
Laws That Gov
ern 1t.
IN OBJECT LESSON WITH A MORAL.
'sRead Good Books" Says Robert
Collyer-Practical Hints for
HOusekeepers.

There are three forms of expression
commonly used, which 1 acknowledge l
cordially detest. and these are "a lazy
friend" "a gentleman FRIEND" and u
'party' when only one person Is intended.
1t is astonishing what nice people use thein'
too. Party, SO used. is a very useful term'
it might mean almost anything from u
man. woman or child, to Il whole family.
or "a society, but it should be remembered
that the word is n plural noun. Inc 90
lection l have to it is using 1t thus:-l
have to meet q party ut ten. He is always
~punctual, SO / must be off," Had the pro-
noun he not been used, party might nave
been all right, pu he shows Its misuse.
As for LADY friend" and gentleman
FRIEND" doesn'ti it seem unnecessary 10 dls-
tinguish your friends as ladies and gentle
mem? Is it not understood? Say a frleno,
and probably the subsequent conversation
will tell the gender of that person, or else
saw q man ! Know. or a woman L know,
or plainly a gentleman or u lady. Inc
beautiful word lady has been SO much
abused by those who would conslder IL as
Insulting to speak of u true lady as u
woman, that the latter word IN It's true
sense is most refreshing. How otten one
hears such expressions us The drunken
lady," "the lady that Keeps the appie
stand"
1t is astonishing the effect that sur
roundings have Upon us all. Ihts fact
was strongly brought to the writer's
notice while one among q Oh New
YORK college scholars. AT recess, OF ab
the after meetings of the students. IL Was
often observed that many of them would
. I ..1 ,ba r,nat .lurin0 u r;i IN matlCul
errors. as by force of habit; they used the
incorrect form naturally, uDco~nsciously.
They had been brought up at home where
Eurl.sh grammar was not the rule, ana
the aint's and plural verbs with singuiar
subjects and vice versa were most COM
mon. And this, in spite OF the fact that
those students had an excellent knowl-
EDGE of the lessons taught in the
English language, that not Que would
have failed in an examination in False
Syntax.
This reminds me of u surprise received
one day when calling on a very quiet re-
fined lady. Pausing at the door OF her
apartment | was astonished at the loud
voices within, as if raised in the most eX-
cited discussion. l knocked tlmidly. No
answer. l wondered what was the mat
ter aud knocked again. this time loudly.
finally my hostess admitted me. She
introduced me to Il young woman VINO, 1
soon discovered, was a regular magple.
and when she began to talk she pitched
the tone of the conversation so high that
IL was difficult to resist the infection and
keep on a lower key.
POINTING A MORAL.
All the above goes to show, doesn't IT,,
that the little story about the apples we
used to read in our school readers pointed
n moral? You remember 1t was ome
thing like this:-
Father" says John, "here is a dish OF
apples. One is decayed. rotten. Shall l
throw 1t awayT'
"No." says the father, 'leave it with the
good ones, and bring them all to me to-
morrow"
The next day John carries the dish of
apples. There are specks on the others.
caused by the n rotten apple. John's
father tells him to leave them as they are,
but to return again on the morrow win
them. This John does, and behold, they
are all decayed. Then Johns father
points his finger at John and
looking over his s~pectacles, says:-
I" NV son, l AVE wasted
these apples, because l wanted you to
learn a lesson of life from them. | have
constantly forbidden you TO play with
the - boys. But you have disopeyed
me. So fused this meal to show you
that EVIL communications corrupt good
manners.'"
However, II it is easy to fall into errors
of English, 1t Is also moderately easy &c
overcome this failing. AS Robert Collyer
once said to "a class of girl graduates
"Read good books. Make them your
friends"