The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-02-12
WHAT "AMERICANIZED" MEANS
"A NEW VERB.

There is tradition that when the Caliph
Omar doomed the great Alexsndrian library to
destruction he WAS waited upon by deputation
Of scholars, who besoughr him spare that vast
and splendid collection of books. But tn, Com.
mauder of the Faithful was not 10 be moved from
his purpose. ''Tf,' said he ''these books contain
anything more than is written in the Koran they
are perniclous, and if they contain no more than
IS written in the Koran they superhuous. In
either case let them be destroyed
1t must have been in similar spirit of grim
humor that the purveyors OF the fricasseed
Encyclopedia Britannica" devoted Themselves
to the task of chopping up the twenty five big
quoro volumes of which the famous 9th Edin-
burgh edition consisted, and serving up the
pieces in hybrid literary gravy OF their cwn
de"oction in ten shabby little volumes Like the
Caliph Omar, they were evidently determined
upon destroying it,
As an exquisitely comical conceit one csnnot
but admire the highly facetious announcement
that by cutting out rs of every 100 pages Of a
great standard work and throwing them away.
the rs per cent oft that has capped in the di,.
enbowelling process is superb "Ame. icanired
edition
To keep the title Encyclopedias Britannica" on
the covers that enclose these sacrificed remAius
of the greatest literary work of the age was Ger
tainlsP master stroke Of humor. But the Joke
does not stop here The publishers even point
with pride to the ten pigmy volumes containing
the fragments of the famous Britannica tbatvsr.
spared by the butchers whom they employed TO
edit it with meat axes, and declare with soSer
faces that for the practical purposes of every
day use, this Americanized edition is superior
than the original Edinburgh edition."
That's TO say, 10 small volumes are better thar
rs large ones; quarter of oaf is better than a
whole one; dividend of e5 cents on the dollar.
paid in copper pennies at that is better than paw
ment IN full in gold coin of standard weight and
fineness; all Of which propositions are eminently
Lamu'ing. The laugbable audaclties of advertis-
ing have been many, but We think this appropria
ton the title Encyclopedia Britannica for
the purpose Of selling to the unwary a little
bean Of debris raked from the ruins of that match
less work beats ne record.
Labelling the diJectd menbra of the Britannica
as the "Americanlzed edition. was a crownne
bit Of comedy. The verb "to Americanize'
/ hereby gains a neyy mud laa,,psr H..
after anything that is smashed into smithereenu
ground into mince meat, disfignred beyond rec
ogntion, or pulverized into little bits NAV be
spoken OF as "Americanized." Mr. Russell Sage,
for example, had a narrow escape from being
"Americanized" the other day. AS only his head
and few of his bopes remained to identify Nor
cross that d-mented youth may be said to have
been as successfully 'AmericarIzed'' as the 10
volume "fake" Britannica itself Mr. CYRUS
Fiel rs large fortune, having been reduced 10 the
vanishing point, NAV properly be referred to as
"Americanzed " The grain crops OF Europe,
which shrunk this year about one fourth of their
usual size furnish another example Of what it
means to be "Amercanized'' on the ten small.for-
twenty FIVE large-volumes plan.
II cannot be denied that viewed as a work of
excelsior and reduction, the Encyclopedias Bri
tannica" has been very effcc,ually american
led" 1t has been literally torn limb from limb.
and nothing left oft to identify it except its title
page and here and there the splinters and shaw
ings of some of its leading articles Itistbe most
unique bit OF literary bomb throwing ever exc
cuted. The explosion has carried away all the
marginal references and sub .topics of the origi-
nal work, anuihila ed the Index blown out hun
dreds of illustrations. maps, plates woodcuts.
and diagrams, and played havoc with all the i'm
portant articles, alike on America and foreign
Suhie is Especially complete is the wreck made
of thu AmeIica census Of statistics Of 1890. The
correct figures of the population of our States,
cities and towns are missing in almost every in
stance
To take standard work of this peerless char
acter' which is conceded to he without rival in
the wor'd,r tiit i with nltrogycerine in this ruth
less way, tearing its head from its body and then
presen ing its torn and acerated remains as a
superior Amercanized editon"is about the most
ghastly practical joke that has ever been played
on the reading public Of this country.
The Reader who is beguiled into buying copy
of hese "remsins" of the grand Britannica will,
after he has patiently and painfully searched it
through for points of resembanc to its great or
ignal be able to enjoy the point Of the story Mr..
Sam Weller told Mr. Pickwick about the myster-
ious disappearance Of the proprietor OF "the cele
brated sa~sage factory" He was the inventor OF
"a patent neve -eaving.off sassage steam-engipe
as I'D swaller up pawn stone and grind it into
sassages as easy If it was . tender young
babby." One day he disappeared and never more
was seen, His fate was never suspected until a
patron of the "sassage factory" walked in and
complained OF finding twenty or thirty halves Of
trouser-buItons in his ''sassages" His widow,
said Mr.. Weller. examined these substitutes for
sausage meat carefully, and then exclaimed: ~
see II all; in fit of temporary insanity he rashly
converted his self into sassages."
The unhappy person upon whom copy Of the
"Americanized" Britannica Is unioadad will,afters
YEARLY wading through its pages, find enough
bits OF broken buttons chopped OF the cloihingof
the giant Encyclopedia to enable him to say. with
Mr. weller's widow II see it all: in fl. of tenn
porary insanity have bought a Britannica that
has been converted into sass ages Prom the Bos
ton Globe, December Is.