The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-04-28
LETTER R AND ITS DIsUsE
William Dean Howells Says 1t Is Drop.
ping from the Language-DiRer-
emit View from the south.

In Literature that ever delightful
writer, William Dean Howells, has
BONE reflections on the destiny of the
letter in America, which are, to say
the least, suggestive, though in several
respects they are erroneous. There is
a popular impression in the north that
we of the south have seeded entirely
from the use of the T; and Mr.. How
ellis falls into the remarkable mistake
| of saying that this letter sis altogether
an outcast in the SOUTH" and he fur
Their finds that "the outlawed letter
has not even a surreptitious shelter in
the southerner's parlance." Mr.. How
ellis no doubt has obtained his idea of
southern pronunciation from the eff
forts of northern actors to interpret
| southern character on the stage, than
which there could be no more unreli-
able criterion. The question has arisen
whether the letter is not doomed to
extinction in English speech, and Mr..
Howells claims that 1t is not, position
which is entirely tenable.
Col. T. w. Higginson declares that this
debatable letter has vanished entire
ly from the accent of New England and
of old England, and Mr.. Howel!s de-
clares that it is quite suppressed to his
hearing in both London and Boston
and all their immediate dependencies;
and about the only places where he can
find an is in Pennsylvania and the
west and among few South Carolini-
ans and Louisianians, who indicated
the more distinctly than New Eng
landers;" yet he had previously said
that the letter was suppressed in New
England. The fact is that Col. Hlggin-
son and Mr.. Ilowelis have made some
ridculously sweeping statements, We
would like very much to know what q
Bostonian does with his in such
words as previous. draw. reliable, sup
press, wrong. air, brain, Paris. rote,
snarl, differing already. generally, On
tario, character, and crossed, which
Mr.. Howells uses in the article to which
we have referred. In an overwhelming
majority of words where the Is used
it is absolutely impossible to suppress
it. A few words ending with the T
sound like more. store, and door, are
Vi IN oi 'oiA PSiNb
with by some people. Mr.. Howells saysin
New England q store is stoa. more is
moa, and a door is doa, while in the
south everybody. white or black. pro-
nounces them. sto'. mo-, and do. A
good many negroes do leave off the r,
and some illiterate whites are guilty of
the same omission; but there is not one
educated southerner in hundred who
drops his in any such fashion. The
truth of the matter is thai the southern
people come nearer giving the letter lis
normal and correct pronunciation than
any other people in the country. The
western people are SO fond of the THAT
they tack it on where it doesn't belong.
and they will always take your r and go
you one better. In their lingo Mr.. How
ellis, for instance. would be native of
Ohier instead of Ohio, and a senatorial
deadlock might take place in North Da-
koter, while such q state as North Da-
kota would not be known.
The fact Is that the southerner Is
satisfied with one r. He doesn't act as
if he never expected to get hold of an
other. Having used it, he passes it on.
instead of rolling it around in his
mouth like caramel and then turning
it out as a sort of vocal cockleburr.
Nothing could be more ridiculous to
southern ears than the pronunciation
of Yankee actors in the play of "Ala-
.bama." The southern characters in
the play all say veyey for very, sub for
sir, and Cayey for Carey; and to south
erners such pronunciation is amusing
in the extreme. AS a matter of fact,
soutLerners do not talk that way.
They sometimes fail to roll the in sir,
so that it is hardly distinguishable, but
they would seldom or never fail to
pronounce Carey exactly as written,
nor would it occur to them to twist this
word into Cayahry, as the northern
characters in ala bama" pronounce it.
Mr.: Howells is competent to speak of
New England and western pronuncia-
ton, and he has made it plain that
neither of those sections knows the
proper use of the letter r. Only in the
south, then. and perhaps in New York,
can the correct and normal use Of the
letter be d.-Memphis CONNER
cial-Appeal.