The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-07-20
II n ENGLIsH.

LabOrious Use Of Many SyIlabled Words in
Had TaSte-Tcndency to Ignore the Use
of simple AHgIo,Saxen,
CiHetnHull HRts.Star.
A polyayllahically worded COMMUNE
cation ia before US. 1t bears no sigma
ture, and, therefore, will never find any
more diGni6ed place in u newspaper
office than the bottom Of a waste basket.
The communication, however, has some
features which prompt comment,
among them being an attempt to mar
shal nearly all the aonoroua adlectiVea
in the English language. In the laborl-
GUS use Of q Latinized English the
writer seems to have acted on the mis-
taken idea that long, many'syllabled
and hIgh-soundiag words and Q climax
arrangement Of qualihers can be made
to take the place OF ideas, and go con-
tribute to the value OF communication.
He seems to have studied but n book
while searching for something. to
write about, and that book a diction-
airy. His communication, like the die
tionary, lisa collection OF words, words,
but not an impartial collection like that
the writer must have conned over. The
simple Anglo-Saxon words, short and
rich in meaning, sounding as sweet to
the English.attuned ear as the strains
from an Eolian harp, are ignored by
this anonymous communication writer.
"Begun" is not found on any page OF
his lengthy effort, but commence" 10
frequently seen. The word "change" is
ignored by him, but the "mutahility OF
circumstances" no seems to roll like q
sweet morsel under his tongue, and he
repeatedly introduces Interchangeable
sis" as ii he would make such repeti-
ton take the place Of handCua and
shackles, thus preventing the valuable
word from getting away with him,
o wad some power the glftle gle us
To SEQ oursels US Others see uSl
Several years ago Horatio Seymour
delivered q lecture OF singular interest
in the city Of Worcester, Mass. He did
not have an auditor who failed to hang
on his words much as a devoted
Christian listens to tho inspiration OF
the pulpit. Even his political enemies,
fortunate enough to hear him, were
unstinted in their praise, not only OF
the ideas advanced, but Of the beauti.
full language in which the speaker had
clothed them. The next day the lee
ture was printed, when, on careful ex-
animation, to the as~tonishnlent
Of every one who had heard 1t,
not one word was found in it from be.
ginning to end Of moro than two sylla-
bles. Simple in his taste whether in
state or in his humble Deerfeld home,
simple in his intercourse with men, the
great New Yorker was also simple in his
literary style. The Anglo-saxon was
good enough for him. By sticking to 1t
through a long lecture he had proven
beyond ali cavii that the words which
the modern composition builders reject
can be made to more effectively appeal
to American ears than can the choicest
language Of the CGsars and tho French
academy combined,
A little girl on coming home from
church on Sunday was asked what the
minister had said, who, for all we
know, may have written the commune
cation which promptedthese comments.
"Oh," she lisped, che thaid and no
thaid and he thaid and that was all he
thaid." 1t was a powerful criticism OF
u sermon prepared and delivered much
as the communication was prepared
which is now waiting for the inevitable
summons to the paper mill.