The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1895-08-08
SWEARING AS A HIGH AFT.
rhe Luxuriance of Blasphemy Prevalent
Among the Orientals.

among the Or1enCalSs
Professor, Gargoyle, you must un-
derstand, has travelled to and fro in
the earth culling these flowers Of
speech-a kind of recording angel,
but without any sentimental tears.
His collection, however, only ap
proaches completeness in the west
ern departments of European Ian
guage. Going eastward he found
such an appalling and tropical lux
uriance Of these ornaments as to de-
spair at last altogether of even a rep
resentative selection, says an Eng
lish writer
"They do not curse" he says, Eat
door handles and shirt studs and
such other trifes as will call down the
meager discharge of an occidental,
but when they do begin! l hired
a promising looking man at Calcut-
ia, and after a month or SO refused
to pay his wages. He was unable to
get at me with the big knife he car
ried, because the door was locked, SO
he sat on his hams outside under
the veranda from 6 is in the morn
ing until nearly 10, cursing- cursing
in one steady, unbroken fow-an
astonishing spate of blasphemy.
''First, he cursed my family, from
me along the female line back to Eve,
and then, having toyed with me per-
sonAlly for little while, he started
off along the line of my possible pos
terity to my remotest great-grand-
children. Then he cursed me by
this and that. My hand ached TAX
ing it down, he was SO very rich It
was a perfect anthology of BengaI
blasphemy-vivid, scorching and
variegated- mot two alike, and then
he turned about and dealt with diff
ferent parts of me- I was really
very fortunate in him. Yet it was
depressing to think that all this was
from one man and that there are
600, 1000, 900 people in Asia.
"Your common Englishman now
scarcely curses at all. A more color
less and conventional affair than
what in England is called swearing
one can scarcely imagine. 1t is just
common talk, with some half dozen
orthodox bad words dropped in here
and there in the most foolish and IL
logical manner. Fancy having o.
thodox wordsl remember one
day getting into third class smok-
ing carriage on the Metropolitan
railway about 1 o'clock and find
ing it full of rough workingmen.
Everything they said was seasoned
with one incredibly stupid adjective,
and no doubt they thought they were
very desperate characters. At last I
asked them not to say the word
again. One forthwith asked me
what the - q really cannot
quote these puerilities), what the idi-
otto cliche that mattered to me- So
I looked at him quietly over my
glasses, and I began. 1t was revela-
ton to those poor fellows. They sat
open mouthed, gasping. Then those
that were nearest me began to edge
away, and at the very next station
they all bundled out of the carriage
before the train stopped, as though I
had some infectious disease. And
the thing was just a rough, imper-
feet rendering Of some mere COM
monplaces, passing the time of day,
as it were, with which the heather
of Aleppo used to favor the servants
of the American missionary. In
deed if it were not for the ladies
there would be nothing in England
that one could speak of as swearing
at all. Theyhave agreed to consider
certain words, for no very good rAa-
son, bad words It is pure conven-
ton. It has little or nothing to do
with the actual meaning, because for
every one of these bad words there
is a paraphrase or synonym consid-
cred to be quite suitable for polite
ears"