Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1897-10-03
MRS. j. X. HENRY
READS NE A CURTAIN LECT-
URE ON PROFANITY.

Editor Moore:-I do not presume
TO suggest to you how to run the
BLADE.
After you have steered it safely
through storms, tempests, and eye
lones, and are still sailing majesti-
cally over the journalistic sea, 1t
would be presumption indeed for me
to suggest methods TO you, for IL
any other hand had been guiding the
craft IL would have gone down in the
Letbean waters long ago.
am only going to give you piece
of my mind that can lily spare, and
as ! give il TO you gratis, ! hope you
will accept it.
Now as many Of your readers are
Directing to your prodigal use OF the
letter ID, wish you would conclude
for the sake of your friends that you
would plunge the BLUE GRASS BLADE
into the alphabet, and pluck it out,
leaving only enough OF il to incor-
porate into Day Dreams" to bring
in the dollars and the dimes to keep
ahoat the craft that flies the flag OF
Rationalism ut its masthead.
Idon't like ''unpretty words but
they don't scare or shock me q bit.
! know there are subjects. condi
tions and times that the greatest
contortion OF the Queen English,
or the most profuse use OF polished
profanity, fail Of expression, and l
know too, that you OF all men have
confronted those subjects, conditions
and times.
1t is with words like it is with
fashions, those most in vogue are
considered the proper thing. l like
refined and polished language, but l
am not as prudish as the nah who
preferred the "boozum OF the tur-
key" or the woman who left a 'lim.
bacy" to a friend, in her will.
like proper people, but not too
proper. But your friends are COM
planning that at times your language
is improper. For their sakes l make
the request that you eliminate those
expressive words that begin with d
from the columns of the BLADE.
Editor Moore did you ever think
what diabolical letter the fourth
letter OF the alphabet is? 1t seems
to me to be the alphabetic black
sheep. l never liked distilleries,
shops, drunkards, debauchers,
dare-devils, depredators, defaulters,
dishonor, deception, diatribes, dis
ease, dolts, duels, dungeons, dumps,
duns, bowers, deformities, daubs,
dentists, disfranchisement, dog
days, dogmatizers, demons, divines,
deacons, decalogues, doxologies,
Doctors of Divinity or any other
combination of ID. DIS. to be found
in or out of the lexicon. l never
used any OF this ID language but
once in my life, and this is how it
happened. In going one day from
my town of Versailles to Lexington
two men were seated back of me
who were the most accomplished
artists in the use OF profanity l had
ever heard. 1t is the general opinion
that women alone have timber
tongues, but deny that, as these
men seemed to have tongues with
revolving hidges and double back
action springs Their conversation
was turbid flow OF oaths oblivious
Of the fact that there were decent
people in the car. tried to see
what looks would do, so put on an
depression as severe as the muzzle
of Krupp gun, but it had no effect.
The tide of profanity flowed on,
while my face grew hot, and my
blood ran cold l concluded to try a
new remedy. Putting on the mild
est, meekest look an 80 pound wo-
man could assume, turning to the
men l said in the blandest, softest