The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-18
ERRORS IN QUOTATIONS
BLUNDERs MADE BY BRYAN AND HIS
KIND IN ATTEMPTING TO QUOTE.
This Variety of Bryanite Numerous
Mistakes Made in Citing Scripture
Amending Shakespeare.
81. Louis Glohe-nemocrat.

the abomtnable Interpretations so frequently
INDUCED III by Mr.. Bryan have probably
not in any degree disturbed the self-com-
placency of that gentleman. who, being
provided. as Byron says, with just enough
of learning to misquote.' is not endowed
with a sufficient amount to know how helm
Gus a literary sin he is committing when
he mangles the words of another. His mis-
quotations, especially of the Scriptures,
would be ludicrous were it not for two
things-first, that he is thereby shocking
the religious sense of conscientious people
who regard the Bible as a sacred book, and
not to be trifled with, and, second, that he
is presenting to the public a spectacle of
ignorance highly offensive in a man aspir-
ing to the highest position in the gift of the
American people. That the latter is to him
a matter of Indifference can easily be be-
Heved: that he is equally Indifferent to the
former is not SO probable, though 1T is pos
sible, believing, as he seems to do, that it
Is his fate to be President, he may be per-
fectly willing to outrage the feelings of all
the church people in the country in the
conviction that nothing he can say will do
him or his cause any harm. Aside from the
political phase, however, the case of the
Boy Orator has a certain interest from the
fact that he seems to be fitted out with
that careless, happy-go-lucky species OF in
tellect which, when it comes anywhere
near the truth, is perfectly satisfied and
takes no further trouble. In his ludicrous
blunder the other day, when he spoke of
the horse-leech as crying 'Give! Give!" he
was, no doubt, quite content with the ref
erence, and would, doubtless, regard his
mistake as a very trivial matter. So, also,
with his equally ridiculous blunder when
he attempted 20 quote Christ's words, do
~ ON fha rnYa~ nf nrr Ar G~I e
thistles. He came within earshot Of the
truth. and that seems to have been all he
thought necessary, the idea Of perfect ac-
curaey In citation being as foreign to his
notions as the idea of perfect truthfulness
In statement.
MANY BRYANITFS.
The world of would-be literary folk con-
tains many like Bryan, people who gather
a general idea, often very general, Of the
meaning of a citation and then fire away at
it. in hit-or-miss fashion, without knowing
or caring how far they may be from either
the words or the meaning these are intend
ed to convey. The female orator, who, in
attempting to cite the noble passage, ITO
everything there is a season, and q time to
every purpose under the sum-" and who
came no nearer to it than 1.-THE Bible says,
There Is time enough for all things " was
Well known among all clergynlen, of the
preacher who attempted to quote from
fTON6TDS, Train up d cnltd IN the way
he should go; and when he is old he will
not depart from it, and succeeded but
poorly with Train up q child and away he
difference to the truth. The story-writing
young women, whose literary researches
are limited to the latest novel and whose
classical attachments are represented by a
few chunks of Latin from the admirable
collection given in the last few pages of
Webster's Dictionary, are the worst sin
ners in this respect, making, with the ut
most gravity, ,side-splitting blnnders, but
them, for L don't care, it's something like
that anyhow" is. to the youthful feminine
intellect, full Justification for the most in
nocently. abominable perversion of the
words OF q quotation. But in the case of
men with whom literature Is even inciden-
tally a calling, a misquotation is inexcusa-
BILE, and plumbers such as those made by
Mr.. Bryan stamp the blunderer not only as
no scholar, but as a charlatan, a pretender,
a strutter In borrowed plumes. Generally,
however this quality Of mind is accom-
that by so large az az a tho aalee Oh nre eoneels
neither shames nor reforms the offenders,
for; like Fadladeen, Grand Chamberlain of
ignorance to the best information any one
else Is able to give.
BIBLE MISCONCEPTIONS.
1t is not often that a misquoter of f.ie
prominence of Bryan appears, able as he Is,
to give his Interpretations to the entire
American reading public on the day follow
ing that on which he made them, but mis-
quoters of less conspicuous station are so
frequent and their Interpretations are so
often repeated that some OF the latter have
passed into current speech and been ac-
cepted as the proper rendering. In other
words, by Consistent repetition they have SO
Impressed their blunders on the public mind
that their mistakes are accepted as facts,
ard the qrotation, mangled as 1t often is,
passes from mouth to mouth, most, even of
those who use II, innocently supposing that
they have it n an original and correct
form. Many persons, for instance. facetiQus-
all evil 1nder the impression that they
are quoting from the New Testament,
when, IN fact. this expression is not to be
the words Of Paul to Timothy being, The
love of money is the root of ali evil" money
isself, so far as this particular passage is
concerned. being treated as a matter Of in
difTerence. Three people out of five when
the mount, but ii the salt have lost his
SAVIOR, substitute Its" for his. a mis-
pulpit, and inexcusabie from the fact thai
its. the possessive case of the third per-
sonal pronoun, does not occur in the King
James translation lot having at that time
come into good literary usage. He that
Is net for us II against u.s. Is the common
against me" and "Gird up your ioins and
Keep your lights burning the general ver-
a a,on on, q Let i;gnf your l9ins be ,girded about
appearance, : often cited as from the Bible,
y not to be found there, the expression
to the appearance" while I'VE always have
the poor with YOU and a half dozen other
versions Of this sentence are substituted for
The poor always We have with you" 'AII
things work for good is a maxim often
N the mouths of pious people as a citation
from the holy writ, but it is not there. the
exact words being, "All things work to-
gether for good to them that love God y
q qualification of some Importance. he
not wise in your own eyes is a. frequent
substitution for BE not wise in your own
conceits. and Through evil and good re-
port IN often used by persons who think
they are quoting Scripture, when the words
of Paul were. by evil report and good re-
port Even preachers sometimes blunder
when trying 10 quote Unto the pure all
thlngs are pure, generally inserting Tin
heart after the first clause.
FROM Fl PRAYER BOOK.
The words of the Book Of Common PRAY
or have become SO familiar 10 the English
speaking world from their centuries of use
by the Church of England and their adop-
ton in whole or In part In the rituals of
several other denominations. that they
have come to be regarded with almost as
much reverence as is shown and felt for
the Scriptures, and the general similarity
of language and style has misled MANY
persons who suppose they are quoting from
the Bible when the words they use are
original with the prayer book. Only y few
weeks ago, In this city, Il clergyman re-
reated the words, I'VE have left undona
those things which we ought TO have done
and we have done those things which we
ought not TO have done and credited them