The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1900-09-02

Charm Of the Southern Tongue
and Its IInitat0rS,
SOME GIFTS TO BOYS SCHOOL
Weddings of Winter Which Will Come
to Pass, Together With Gossip
of Society Current at the
Close of Summer.
by ANNIE KENDRICK WALKER.
1SS4-MISS MARIE $500.


1SS4-MISS MARIE PINCKARD-1SOO.
The angels gathered the lilies so pure,
And the roses beyond compare.
These heavenly flowers they slowed In the
heart
OF an earth-born, gentle and fair.
Each birthday renews for this lovely maid
These celestial flowers of grace.
The roses give fragrance to all of her acts,
The lilies they shine in her face.
MARY THEODORE LANIER. :
Birmingham, Ala, August &c. 1900.
The Southern woman has so long been
distinguished by her charming accent that
the recent discussion on the part of GER
tain authorities in the study of language
to sanction the various intonations in the
speech of this country as American" will
possibly result in less criticism from GER
tain quarters in regard to the Southern ac-
cent.
Max Muller. one of the most eminent au-
thoriues in the study of languages, in an
article in the September Forum, expresses
the opinion that Americans should have
their own accents, like the Scotch and the
Irish without in any way being ashamed
of it, and he relates the story of a pro-
fessor at oxford, who invariably dropped
his his"
"Why should I pronounce all these
'h's'?" he asked, I'm the country where
I was born and bred they did not pr
nounce an h at the beginning of a word
just as We omit it in honor and hour"
Mr. Muller's article is somewhat of de-
Tense of the American accent, and some %
the reviewers are rather resenting his
opinions; not that our accent did not have
right to exist, but that it should be the sub
ject of criticism.
The knowledge that the American accent
was so repeatedly ridiculed by Englishmen,
notably Dickens and Thackeray. has
aroused the American writers of today to
a position in wflidh they claim that the
present accent Is unchanged from that
much-ablrsed accent of the past or, in
other words there is no special reason why
1t should be regarded with greater toler-
ance today than formerly. t...
To quote from a reviewer: 1.-THE country
has itself grown so important that the ac-
cent of ITS people is accepted without any
comments" and while the accent remains
the same, it Is only the changed opinions
iy Itegard to Il that have brought about
me recent discussion.
A New York paper, in discussing the
opinion regarding the American speech,
says very pertinent1y:
1.-The transatlantic Anglo-SaXon has
Deen 1ncaplbie OIL forming q composite no.
ton of what American speech really Is. AS
a rule, he never compared Kentucky with
New York, or the sharp information of New
England with it's contrast in the South
He took the American accent as he found
II, and he had no discrimination whatever
about it, except that he recognized it to
be American. HIT Is coming now to look
upon 1t from the point of view of sound as
a fairly permissible variant upon the tone
qualities of the old speech at home, as one
of the settled pecuiiarities of the family
stock 1t is perfectly natural that he
should even see unexpected felicities in it.
His attitude is changed toward America
all around, and his feeling about the
cent is modified too. He is beginning to
recognize that American. English, Cana
dian and Australian speech are to be con-
sldered more like interesting developments
of one and the same language, carrying
out into large spaces and under new con-
ditions the varieties which have existed for
centuries among the English counties since
the people first spoke one tongue"
There Is another aspect of the question
which is constantly becoming more promi-
nent. 1t Is that the increased intercourse
among English-speaking communities has
produced an accent which 1t Is hard to de-
fine except by calling it Anglo-Saxon. 1t
has no note which stamps 1t exclusively
English or American, but rather one that
Indicates that the pecuharities of both have
been merged. 1t has been noticed In emil
nent English speakers who have addressed
American audiences, and In England 1t has
been noticed in some of our speakers who
have addressed audiences there. 1t is a hint