The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-06
The Curse Taken ON.

Nm recent years, particularly since the
beginning OF the war. the word
''heIr' has been losing all It's horrors.
There was a time. and that only a few
years ago. when no newspaper dared
print IL in so many letters except In
cases where II was used as a biblical
or theological term. TIC utter II. except
In the same sense. was supposed to
stamp the offender as a sinner Of the
reddest dye. bound to wind up his ca
reer in the place he so Hippantly named.
Now all is changed. No good newspa-
per, except the Oldest of the old fogies.
hesitates to spell hell with an h and
an e and a double l. In fact hell has
come to be such good English that the
Rev. j. Z. Roberts. D.. d.. a Kansas
City pastor, used 1t unconsciously In
his sermon the other Sunday and not In
any biblical or theological sense either.
HE knocked hell out of everything In
sight," said DR.. Roberts. referring TO
Admiral Dewey. Some of the congrega-
great, broad smiles. A reporter of the
Kansas City Star called on the doctor
to explain. 81 think l did say those
words" said the doctor. I'm not sure.
but / think the stenographer's report
will show me guilty. What would you
do? ask you, what would you do in
my position. speaking OF the subject 1
was trying to handle? There is nothing
In classical English adequate to such a
subject, is there? Can you blame me,
then, that I resorted to an expression
Who force and power people know
and appreciated"
The reporter interviewed leading
members Of DIR. Roberts congregation
I good old pillars Of the c~hurch-and they
sustained the pastor; some were more
non-committal than others, but none
criticised, while several actually ap-
plauded the clergymsn's language as
we'll as his sentiments.
There is nothing profane in the use OF
the word hell In the sense that the
Kansas City pastor used II. 1t IL simply
slang, and within proper limitations the
use OF most slang words and phrases is
permissible. The Standard gravely
doubts IL slang Is ever permissible in
the Christian pulpit. The Rev. DR.. Rob-
erts did not offend against good English,
but he did offend against good taste.
Not until slang has lost all Characters
tics OF slang and passed into pure idiom
is its use permissible in religious OF
classical composition.
Sometimes II takes slang OF low origin
years to force its way up into good so
ciety, but It seldom fails to get there In
the end. He'll has had to undergo the
refining process longer than any other
piece of slang In modern times. Wher
General Sherman said war is hell" he
purified the word OF much OF its slum-
miness, and later when Fighting Bot
Evans promised to make Spanish tn,
language OF hell he caught the CROWD
with an illustration SO apt h a III
phrase freely passed from mouth t'
mouth, and hell" at last found the
entree to the most refined drawing roomi
and was admitted to the vocabulary %
the educated. Possibly Bob Ingersoll Il
entitled to more credit. or is more re
sponsible, IL you prefer to put II tina
way. for the popularization of hell
than either Sherman or Evans. Th'
history of the word should furnish al
exceptionally interesting field to pro
fessional photographers.