The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-09-07
trace of meter, music and melody, can
fail to preceive that
Little Jack Horner

Sat In a corner
is bald and harsh as compared with
Little Johnny Horner
Sitting in corner
and though on a momentous question
like this, would not dare to dogmatize.
still, after a principle has been firmly
established under the labors of such
scholars as Bentley and Mill and Lach-
man, and Griesback and Tregelles and
Scrivener and Tischendorf and Wescott
and Hort, / am constrained to decide in
favor OF the shorter recension. The
longer is evidently an establishment by
later hand.
In the third line OF our text
And pulled out plum.
AS it reads in the received version, there
are some doubts as to the word pulled;
as there are some few, though not very
ancient manuscripts. which read. picked
for pulled. Pulled however, has de-
cided preponderance of external evidence
in its favor. and, therefore it is not
necessary for us to go into the question
of the diplomatic evidence, however in
teresting that might be.
Once more. In the last line,
And said, what good boy ANIL
Common version, following tertus re-
ceptus) the authorities are by no means
agreed on the word good Not few
goddess, and some of no mean antiquity,
have 'brave;" others read nice and one
smart Upon the whole, the better
opinion seems to be that the te1tus re-
ceptus is right, and hence we have re-
tanned good
Having now settled the purity of the
text, l will proceed to the presentation
and discussion of the great facts which
it sets before US.
The text is brief epic poem; that is
to say. poem which depicts and cele-
brates the thoughts, the actions, feel
ings, aspirations-in word, the charac-
ter of hero. Our first and main bust
ness then, is with the hero himself.
And
I. He is called Little
1--WE cannot doubt that the poet really
meant to apply the adjective little to
the hero. Widely as the manuscripts
differ on other matters (which we have
already noticed). there is a perfectly
unanimous consensus Of all extant cod
ices on this point. No codex, ancient or
modern, uncial or cursive. is without the
word little And yet the question of
the actual and historical diminutiveness
of the late Mister Tor MASTERY Horner is
by DO means settled. For, in the first
place, we are to remember that we are
dealing with poetry; and it would be
utterly unreasonable to interpret poetry
by the canons of prosaic history.
Again; the latest modern investigation
has pretty clearly established the con-
clusion that the poem was written by a
mother; and the weight Of the evidence
points to the Oriental writer; that is to
say, writer who lived at, or in the Vi
cinity of that great eastern city, Boston.
Now, to interpret Oriental poetry writ
ten too by mother), as if it were SIM
pie history, is to violate the very first
principles of sound hermeneutics. as
held by all the greatest critics, from
Leasing to Carlyle. We know how prone
mothers are to belittle what they love-
This tendency seems to be inherent in
human nature; and. indeed. it is, in one
form or another, the basis Of those words
which we call 'diminutives': Birdie
'doggie.' 'piggie,' and even Johnnie are
examples under this great law. On this
point l an not specializing. but / am
simply stating principle we'll known to
all scholars. The modern, mighty, mar
velous, magnificent Science of Lam
guage,' born in the brain of Grimm
nursed and nurtured by the Herculean
labors of Bopp and Pott. adorned by the
genius of Max Muller, and beautified
and popularized by our own Whitney,
has clearly established this great law of
human speech. Under such circum-
stances as these I would be the last to
dogmatize as to the question of the real
personal dimensions of our hero. But
| III. He sat in a corner
On this point, too. all our authorities
ancient and modern, are at one. Upon
the whole, l am inclined TO regard the
statement as historical, and as the ques
ton is an interesting one, will proceed
| to give my reasons:
/ hold that the corner was the most
natural place for boy to sit when he
was RECALLING himself with pie, and es-
pecially Christmas pie, because:
l. 1t is the suggest place in winter.
2. 1t is the position from which he
would be least likely to be displeased to
give his seat to older persons coming
into the room.
3. 1t is the place where he would be
safest from the intrusion OF that house.
hold pet Tor pest), the felis domestico
vulgarly called cat, whose propensities
in the direction of purloining rich food
are too well known to require further
comment"
[At this point of the sermon some