The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-21
A NEW DIALECT BOOK

A good story IS going the ROUNDS, That
was first told by Frankfort Moore at din
ner given by the New Vagabonds to the
women authors of England. A prominent
English author. having completed q manu-
script, took it to London publisher, say
ing he considered it the best thing he had
yet done. The publisher was delighted.
els it up to date?" he asked. Cup to
date" cried the author. 81 should say it
is up to date. 1t contains two problems
and wife who confesses all on the day of
her marriage" The publishers eyes
glistened. but turning over the pages his
face heightened.
"Whyi" he exclaimed. "It is written
in English; there's not;a Scotch phrase in
it. Are you really serious in expecting
me to publish novel that is not written
in the Scotch dialectf Take it away Take
it awayP'
The author took it away and was some
what disheartened until he remembered
that he had an aunt who had lived in Edin-
burgh. and had mastered the language to
such an extent that she was able to go
about without an interpreter. To her he
hurried, and with her assistance he turned
all the ''froms" into s.fraes.' all the
into hawas," tho friends" into 'sfreens,"
and with a few ''hoet, monsl'' and "bon-
MES" and a judic1ous admixture of the
brose pot, the book was transformed SO
that the publisher accepted it joyously.
This will do for an after-dinner story.
The moral, however, is not far away, and
the outlook is that 1t will draw nearer.
The reign of the Scotch dialect has been
long, but there are. signs that besspeaR for
ME Brier Bush still leads the booksellers
sales in some inland towns and there is
an occasional demand for Barrie's books,
but it is evident that the Scottish cult is
on the wane.
1t is not singular that it should have had
long day. Of all the dialects that the
past decade has seen inflicted upon a long
suffering reading world the Scotch has the
greatest excuse for being. In the first
place despite its queerness to the English
eye, it is the easiest of all to understand.
Then, too, it has, in the minds of most Of
us, certain long established literary asso-
Citations. But chiefest of all reasons for its
popularity is It's boundless capacities for
expressing pathos.
Take, for instance, the most notable of
all the books about humble folk that have
of late years appeared in this dialect
Barries GA Window in Thrums." Per-
haps no modern writer has been more over
rated than Barrie. When all is said and
done his "Window in Thrums," by far his
best work, is cold unsympathetic espion-
age upon thoroughly uninteresting peo-
pie There is neither artistic nor human
feeling in tho chronicle of what. was seen
from that window. The people were
of interest to the author as out-of-the-way
specimens might be to the anatomist. The
reading world was at first amazed to find
itself in such company. Then it became
interested. 1t had not known there were
such folk. Most OF us in reading were
moved upon by pity that was excited
less by the authors presentation OF his
people, which il as cold and unsympathetic
as his own leaden skies, but by the mex
speak. It pleases the ear and appeals to
the imagination as the English language
could never do. We think we are touched
by the human pathos of the situations pre-
scented, when we are only esthetically
moved by the pathetic cadences of the
Scottish tongue. 1t transforms the most
commonplace utterances into sympathetic
mysteries. Take, for example, that most
common Of annoyances, a baby crying in
church. Any nervous person could find it
easy to order the crying baby carried out
of church, but if it be but expressed differ
entity, who having bowels of compassion,
could turn a greetIn' bairnie frae the kirk
One could not do it. It sounds too pa
thetic.
We have spoken of Ian Maclaren's book,
beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" 1t has
been one of the successes of this season.
We have all read it and wspt over it. We
have dried our tears even as we acknow-
lodged the justice of our critical judg-
ments. Then we have read and wept
again.
But calm consideration compels the ad-
mission that in most cases the pathos has
lain not SO much in the actual situations
as in the burning. touching Scottish