The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-07
I'm Our Midst"

From the midst Of the borough Of Brook
Ign come these remarks as to an expression
which seems to be filling and even necessary
to those who use it:
ITO THE EDITOR OF THE suH-sfr: I admit that
many times you have added somewhat to our merri.
ment by resurrecting from the columns of the rural
press examples of the watermelon and other com.
modities in our midst but are you not Just q little
captious in your intolerance of the expression ? In tho
translation Of IBsES's Peer Gynt' by WILLIAM aud
CHARLES ARCHER tAct. W. p. e22) l ind the lines:
".But though he still pursued q path aioof
And ever seemed q stranger In our midst
ain my copy some smart disciple OF yours has duly
italicized and quoted tho passage and decorated It
with q fat exclamation point. As you are perhaps
aware, tho phrase Is. in certain oases. almost sane.
toned by usage in England and is at least permitted
by WEBSTER. W. MUTcHrs."
We know Mr.. WILLIAM ARCHER as a
writer on the theatre and one of the Ibsen
illuminate, but we are not prepared to &C.
cept him as an exemplar of style or a fixer
of usage. We must also decline to tremble
at the name of the worthy Connecticut
philologist. The dictionary that still bears
his name treads over this difficulty more
gingerly than a cat over q puddle. Hear
and revere:
'The expressions in our midst TO-. are avoided
by some good writers. the forms I'm the midst Of
&c. being preferred"
"Some good writer's" is good. The post
Noachian photographers, however. who
have changed DR.. WEBsTER's dictionary
considerably more than ALADDIN's luck in
the lamp trust changed that young gentle
mans prospects and the fortunes of the
Princess of Cathay, are here too concise.
"Some good writer's" avoid Gin our
midst" Who are the other good writer's
who revel in that eXpression3 The post
Noachian oracles are dumb. They do tell
us that "midst" means "the interior part
or place; the middle" Obviously, then,
the natural meaning Of "in our midst" is
in our middle, our interior. How does it
come to mean, II it has come to mean, in
the midst of us2
Take a peep into another shrine of lexi-
geography, the Century Dictionary. BY
consulting that tiny treatise we learn that
the phrases Gin our, your, their midst" in
the sense sin the midst of u.s." &c, "have
been objected to by some writers on Eng
lish, but with no good reason" Here is a
positive, clear, definite decision. And
upon what precedent is it founded2 Upon
a quotation from MONTGOMERY: "In their
midst a form was seen." MONTGOMERY,
whether JAMES or ROBERT, cannot be re.
garded as a peculiarly impressive author.
ity. The Century Dictionary makers
furthermore quote from our learned San.
scrit friend, FITZEDwARD HALL of Oxford,
the opinion that with reference to an.
illogical principles in our midst is alto
gether irreproachable."
No doubt. Some years ago n learned
gentleman of Pike county. No., or there
abouts sent to The SUN a long communica-
tion in which he piled quotation on quota
ton, and showed, to his own exceeding
happiness, that by analogy with similar
expressions in a large number Of languages
and dialects. Tristan, Lithuanian, Mnso.
Gothic, Morse, Neapolitan, Manx, Hank,
and Crank, sin our midst" and its breth-
rem were good words and true. The diff
Guilty is that analogy has nothing to do
with the case. A question of language IL
not decided by analogy, but by usage. If
English writers of the first rank are In the
habit of using lin our midst" the die
t~ionaries ought to tell us so. MONTGOMERY
and ARCHER amt be considered as con.
elusive authorities.
Come and try another dictionary, not
necessarily for information, but as all evil
dence of industry. Dictionaries are not
always monuments OF information, except
at second hand, but they are always monu-
ments of industry. This wisdom, now not
entirely fresh to us. drips from the Stand
ard Dictionary:
"In our. your. or their midst. In tho midst OF US,
you, or them; q form pronounced analogically ire
proaohablc by FITzEDwARp HALL. In Modern Eng.
llsh.' p. 90. but oil Jected TO by some writer's"
Here's richness, said Mr.. SoUEERs. The
notion that English is not made by the best
authors who write 1t, but by the learned or
unlearned persons who write about 1t, is In
the heads Of the manufacturers of both the
Century and the Standard dictionaries.
The Century gives to a quotation from
DIR. HALL space which 1t should have
occupied with citations of sin our midst"
The Standard shows Us that DIR. HALL is