Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-05-19
THE DREAM OF ROGET.
"a Pathological Tale" That Must Not
BE Taken Too Literally.

Senator H0ar has recently described
one of Webster's peculiaritles as an
orator. This was his use Of several
words having almost the same mean.
ing until he got the one that most per-
fectly expressed it. When his speeches
were published, only this one Of the
several synonymous words was re-
tanned. An eXaggeratiOn Of this trick
of speech appears in 'The Dream of
Roget" ga Pathological tale'D. which
appears in st. Nicholas over the sigma
ture Of Grace Fraser.
Roget was man who composed a
thesaurus of words. Now, thesaurus,
I or treasury, or words is a system
OF verbal classification. You take
all the words and phrases that
mean pretty much the same thing,
range them in row, make these rows
into sections. call the sections by ap-
propriate names, and-there you arel
Falling asleep one night over Roget's
curious book, dreamed that was Ro-
get himself. and a very fat man into
the bargain. A gentleman behind me
was admonlshing me to hasten, with
the words:
Come, come, my good fellow; bowl,
trundle, roll alOngw
Him." thought l, what 1t is to be
stout! Quoting my very words, is he?
I'll show him" And, turning, ex-
claimed:
GO! Begonel Get you gone! Get
away! Go along! Be off! Off with
you'll Get along with you! Go about
your business! Go your way! Avaunt!
Aroynt! Away with your
"Whew" cried the saucy man.
"What an irascible. susceptible, ex-
citable, irritable, fretful, fidgety, pee
wish, hasty, quick, warm, hot, touchy, |
testy, pettish, waspish, snappish. pet |
ulant, peppery, fiery, passionate. chol-
eric fellow it isl'
This annoyed me.
"Sir," | said, you shall not ridicule,
deride, laugh at, mock, quiz, rally,
fout, twit. roast, taunt or make game
of me. This is i'll treatment. annoy
ance, molestation, abuse, oppression,
persecution. outrage, of a kind that !
shall not standw
The man apparently wanted to fight
for he continued meditatively, What
a corpulent, stout. fat. plump. chubby,
club faced luhberly, bulky. unwieldy"-
This was more than flesh and blood
could stand. tried to chastise him.
but he turned into a policeman. took
me to the station and accused me be-
fore judge Of attempting by tooth
and nail, vi ct arms, at the point Of
the sword and at one fell swoOp, to be
violent, to run high. ferment. effer
Tesce. run wild. run riot. to break the
peace, to outherod Herod and to run
imuck."
| denied the charge with vigor 1T
S false, untrue. unfOunded, fictitious,
invented, ben trovato. counterfeit, spu.
ious!' | cried. The policeman Is a
lypocrite. tale teller, shuffler, dissem-
der. serpent and Baron Munchausen.
am innocent. stainless. unspotted in
ffensive. dovelike. lamblke. with !
lean hands and with IA clear con- s
cience. demand atonement. repara- {
ion. compensation, Precipitation, s
mends and satisfaction"
Take them all. Mr.. Roget" said the s
1dge. and was going for the police
ian when | awoke. And so the con- e
ersation which could hardly be call !
d a model of concseness, brevity, 4
erseness. compression, condensation t
pithiness. came to close, terInina- s
on, conclusion. fms, finale, finish, de- t,
,rmination and end. Z