The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-10-18
THE ENGLISH OF THE ENGLISH
PecuIiaritfes That Struck Recent
American Visitor.

American Visitor.
One of the first sermons the specta-
tor heard on landing in England was
preached in Westminster Abbey. Tho
tmpressiveness of the Abbey service ia,
by the way, somewhat married by the
manner in which the crowd crowds"
the monuments, the women sitting on
The pedestals and the men hanging their
hats. on the arms or any other projec-
tons in sight The preacher that even
ing was the Very Rev. Dean of Ely.
He gave an excellent sermon on certain
problems of modern thought, but all
the way through he pronounced evolu
ton ''e"volutiOn. The next evening
the spectator was the guest of {. we'll
known London journalist, graduate
Of Cambridge, who also used the word
evolution, Dronouncing it also ''e"vOlu-
ton. So odd q pronunciation might be
set down, in the case of Church of
England clergyman, as one Of those pull
pit peculiarities or affectations-at least
SO they sound--which those unaceus-
toned to them cannot escape noticing.
Inls theory can hardly be stretched to
apply to layman, and a newspaper
man at that, and so the spectator asked
his host if ''e'-volution was the ordi-
nary English pronunciation. The latter
replied that he had never heard any
other. The spectator thought he had
discovered a new Americanism. Con-
suitIng various dictionaries on his re-
turn, the spectator changed his mind.
Not one of them gave 'e'-volution as
even a possible or alternate pronuncia-
ton, not the Century, nor the Standard,
nor even Stormonth. Indeed, the last
authority went so far the other way rs
to give evolve as the proper pronun-
citation OF evolve. The spectator was
thus driven to the conclusion that the
English are more independent of die
| tionaries than the Americans are not
constantly looking up words as we
are here,and accept the ordinary usage
OF the people with whom they associatee
! as authoritative, which would be typi-
cal British way of settling almost any
question. An amusing bit of art slang
came to the spectators attention-was,
IN tact, thrust upon him-at this year 3
exhibit of the Royal Academy The
one comment whether of admiration
or surprise) was the invariable phrase,
How very extr' ord'n'ryw This was
applied indiscriminately to any and
every picture, from a bit of realistic
flesh painting usually, in Paris aud
London alike, the back of some reclin-
ing woman with the reddish hair, which
must be the latest fad with the realists
to one of Sargent's portraits, or a
wonderful setting of many figures, such
as Alma-Tadema's Spring" 1t was
extraordinary how tiresome the con-
slant repetition of that phrase became
| after single day at the Academy. But
it was at the Royal News, the stables
of Buckingham Palace, that the spec
tator had impressed upon him how
much Importance attaches to a proper
| discrimination in the use of English
The groom in attendance was mos
impressive person, so very impressive
from his cockade to his boots as to sat
isfy completely ones ideal of stateli-
ness in even an humber royal turnkey
And he lived up" to his. livery. Hi:
manner was dignity itself. Referring
to the parade at Hyde Park the day be-
fore, at which the spectator had beer
present, he asked the groom whether
any royalties had been "out riding
there that afternoon. "Oh, no, sir" re-
piled that f1Inctionary, with freezing
sarcasm; their Royal Highnesses an(
the ladies and gentlemen of the courf
ride in the morning. They drive il
the afternoon" There may have beer
previous occasions in the spectators ex
perience when he was equally crushed
by the sense of having used the wrong
word in the presence of critical au
thority; but he failed to recall then
then, and he has failed to recall then
since.