Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-02-23
THE DREAM OF ROGET.
"a TnutoiogicaI Trle'' That Must Not
Be Taken Too Literally.

~ aAAcn TOO Literally.
Senator HOar has recently described
one OF Websters peculiarities as an
orator. This was his use OF several
words having almost the same Incsu-
ing until he gOt the one that mos, peY-
fectly expressed IL. When his speeches
were published. only this one of the
several synonymous words was re-
tained. An eXacgeration of this trick
OF speech appears in "The Dream OF
Roget Ga pathological tale"). which
appears i'm st. Nicholas over the sigma
ture OF Grace Fraser.
Roget was a man who composed q
thesaurus OF words. Now. thesaurus,
or treasury, or words is 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 cali the sections by ap-
propriate names. and-there you are,
Failing asleep one night over Roget's
curious book. I dreamed that was Ro-
get himself. and n very faf~rnan into
the bargain. gentleman behind me
was admonishing me to hasten. with
the words:
Come. come. my good fellow: bowl
trundle. roll alongr'
HIM." thought l, what II is to be
stout! Quoting my very words. is he?
III show him!' And. turning. I ex-
claimed:
go! Begonei Get you gone. Get
away! Go along! Re Off of with
you! Get along with you'll Go about
your business! Go your wayI Avaunt!
Aroynt! Away with your
"Whew" cried the saucy man.
What an irascible. susceptible. ex-
citable. irritable. fretful. fidgcty, pee
wish. hasty, quick. warm. hot. touchy,
testy. pettish. waSpish, snappish, pet
ulant. peppery. fiery. passionate. chol-
eric fellow IL isr'
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 Ill treatment. annoy
ance. molcstation. abuse. oppression.
persecution. outrage. of kind that !
Shall not standT'
The man apparently wanted to fight,
FOR he continued meditatively. What
Il corpulent. stout. fat. plump. chubby.
club Faced, lubberly. bulky. uuwioldy"-
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 he
fore judge of attempting by tooth
ana nall vi ct arms. at the point of
the sword and at one fell swoop. to be
violent. TO run high. fermcnt. effcr.
vesce. run wild, run riot. TO break the
peace. TO outherod Herod end to run
amuck'
denied the charge with vigor 1T
is raise, untrue. unfounded, fictitious.
invented. ben trovato. counterfeit. spu-
rious!" | cried. "The policeman Is n
hypocrite. tnle teller shufler. dissen-
bier, serpent and Baron Munchausen.
| am innocent, stainless. unspotted. in
Offensive, dovelike, lamblike, with
clean bands and with clear con-
science. ! demand atonement. repara-
ton, compensation. Precipitation.
amends and satisfaction
Take them all, Mr.. Roget" snid tho
Judge, and was going for the police
man when \ awoke. And so the con-
versation, which could hardly be call.
ed n model of conciseness. brevity.
tcrseness, compression. condensation
or pithiness. came TO close. termina-
ton, conclusion. tinis. finale, finish. de
termination and end.