Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-12-07

he will never say that he Is going a
round" or. Familiarity. round" He
thinks us very slovenly for our way OF
dropping the in white" and he. pro-
nounces II carefully, transposins IL SO
that n begins the word. He sounds the h
i'm "hotel'' which to us seems III. because
II IS not French And generally he lets
Won understand that what he does Is
not by chance.
He says address with conscious
ness that somehow the word so pronounc-
ed requires more care In sentence than
II does when spoken in the English man.
nor derived from the French) with the
accent on the. second syllable That ad-
drass IS the usual educated way In Am
erica IL proved not only by speech. but
by meter for have just found the woru
with that shress In American verse.
Why. one may wonder In vain, have me
Tinted States given up the use OF
"branch2" Scripture and all the poets
and an English literature have made the
u,ord "a familiar there as II Is here. Why.
thsn are we always leased, In print and
IN speech alike with limb" In place OF ~
If America will promise 10 take branch
hack into use and IL she Will give up the
uelv word dirt i'm place OF earth as a
gardening term. England on her part will
do something TO please her, or two things
The offer is a fair one. Which are 'hry
10 be? It ~ only too evident that any
American Is ready to name two Things
that offend him in the tax or hhShSn
people and offend him not without gOOd
reason / would not orfer such a paltry
concession as the abandonment of "dif-
ferent to-" for this, although Americans
are still complaining OF II In our speech
we have long ago explicitly renowned. IL
Is now many years since we protested our
national repentance. and though some OF
us NAV say II, I'm that state Of inadYef-
tence 10 which we are liable none or us
who have any responsibility VIII ever
write 81 again. We know IL Is modern ana
OF bad time. We remember how III u
looks where it stands in the Queen Anne
English Of Thackeray's "Esmond. Let
them ask us for something better.
Inadvertent we certainly are, more IMAM
any other European nation, and much
more than America. IL is by no means
OF their own habit OF observation that we
become aware OF the prevalence or Ger
tain habits OF speech among Americans
For instance. a novelist, who Is one o.
the most vigilant Of writer's and or NEIL
mlmics the speech OF an Englishwoinah
By printing her manner Of pronouncihs
"styOupid" Few English hearers defect
the fact all Americans OF whatever part
York" Not that they make the double o
long or conspicuous. The word is spoken
quite quickly and makes an lambic foot,
whereas we generally take II as a
spondee. But the absence of the Engish
preliminary sound seems TO be invariable
I'm America That sound is however
little refinement which We shall take
leave Of soon.
American Indignation, even when II y
deserved IS easier 10 meet than an ad-
miratiOn that is altogether unmerited. An
American said 10 me. by the chance or
conversation, that he had lived long
enough I'm London to learn English HABITS
and 10 like them best. Il never now feel
so much tempted to say 'class'-l nat
urally say 'clahss,' like YOU" AS have
never once said "clahss." but check the
child who speaks the word with That open
a. the homage was all I'm vain Yet the
American Anglophle had the taste of
TennysOn on his side There seemed 10 be
no close a. even In such word as
BLACK" that the poet did not open aud
broaden into some enormous SOUND IN MS
reading aloud
And as some few Americans will initiate
some of us I'm spite OF the rest by saying
"clahss." some of us are bent upon paying
them a like tribute Of nattery, ana IN
other Things than speech. OF those things
surely the most unWe.cOme 10 all Ameri-
cans whose good opinion we prize must
be the newspaper way OF heading the
announcement OF a death IN this manner;
"ATr Jones Dead" instead OF death
Of Mr.. Jones" This seems 10 me the one
intolerable thing. II intends TO call up
as it We're mental picture OF the ot-
ceased on his deathbed. What do we de-
serve at the hands Of the American we
ought 10 admire for copying such a GUS
tOm2