The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-01-10
H GRAMMAR TREE.
BY RUTH AsHMORE.

BY RUTH ASHMORE.
Ruth Ashmore. whose death was
announced In He PROGRESSIVE FARMER
last week, contributed the following
article to the Ladies' Home Journal
about three years ago. We are sure
lt will be read with interest by the
girls.
A strange title7 Well perhaps. And
yet it came by reading an English
translation of something which a Latin
writer had said; often titles are born,
not made:
"Wuo climbs the grammar tree dis
tincGly knows
Where noun and verb and participEe
grows"
And the good climber should know
more than this. I want every one Of
my girls to climb this grammar tree.
and learn to speak in the best manner
possible. We all make mistakes
English indebted ia seldom heard, but
we can all try to speak as we should,
and beware, as far as possible, of local
phrases. The girl of the South in
clines to be a little stilted and a little
fowery; sometimes she mixes her me
taphors, and then what she says sounds
most ridiculous. The girl of the
West is quick to speak, has a decided
tendency toward slang, and except for
her inclination to use short words is to
be commended. The girl Of the East
is apt in her speech to use what the
newspapers call ''localisms," and the
girl of the North is very much like the
girl of the East.
When climbing the grammar tree
one must learn not only to speak cor
rectly, but to speak properly. aud
when I say to speak properly I mean
do not speak in shrill tones, do not
speak through the nose, do not speak
in a drawing fashion, but strike the
key note that results in melodious
sounds. The voice Of a woman should
be low and sweet, but clear. Dolly,
who very properly signs her name
Dorothy, was a member of the gradu,
ating class in a we'll known college.
She thinks she unders lands the English
language perfectly, and when I suggest
to her the possibility of her not hav
ing reached the very top of the gram
mar tree she looks at me and says
with scorn: my teachers we're good
ones and learned me all that was
necessary" Oh, Dolly! Frogs and
toads are tumbling out of your mouth
instead of diamonds and pearls. You
were the person to learn, and your pro
fessors were the ones to teach. That
is your very first mistake. And you
are the typical girl, and no more igno
rant than many others who were grad
uated this year. Your pretty cousin
from down South asks me, "What are
you looking at7" or "Where are you
going to7" forgetting entirely a leaf on
the grammar tree that has written
upon it an objection to a proposition
appearing at the end of q sentence.
Dolly laughs at her English cousin,
and yet her Euglish cousin is very often
correct. The English girl is right in ask
ing for a biscuit when Dolly demands
a cracker. The English girl is also
right in saying in some large building
she went up in the lift when Dolly
would talk about riding in the eleva
tor. But the English cousin is wrong
when she says ''dimonds," forgettin g
entirely the "a" that belongs to the
word, and she is also speaking i'm
properly when she drops her ''g's" al
together and talks about ''goin'" and
'havin'" and "traveIin'."
SOME COMMON MISTAKES
A we'll known writer not longer ago
used the phrase, "She sepsed it., "
meaning that she understood it, or
knew it. This is undoubtedly a local.
ism, but is not a pleasant one
Now, Dorothy, here are some words
that you must not use. Do not say
calculate when you mean ''intend,"
as, II calculate to go to Boston to
morrow" Do not say lad" for ''adver
tisement." Do notsay purchase" for
buy" Do not say retire. for ''go
to bed" Do not say donate" for
give" Do not say residence" for
''hous9," and do not, my Dolly, do not
be too exagerative in your mode of
speech, MOI too ecstatic about small
things. If you "love" cake what emo