Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-02-19
THE DREAM OF ROGET.
"a Pathological Tale" That Must Not
BE Taken Too Literally.

Senator Hoar has recently described
one of Webster's peculiarities 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
tained. An exaggeration of this trick
of speech appears In "The Dream OF
Roget ga tautoloPicaI tale'). which
appears in st. Nicholas over the sigma.
tura of Grace Fraser.
Roget was a man who composed a
thesanrus of words. Now, thesaurus,
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 a row, make these rows
into sections. call the sections by ap-
propriate names. and-there you are.
Falling asleep one night over Rogets
curious book, dreamed that was Ro-
get himself. and a very fat man into
the bargain. A gentleman behind me
vas W hciSlCAp w n3lll
the words:
"Come, come, my good fellow; bowl,
trundle. roll alorgw
Him." thought l, "what 1t is to be
stout! Quoting my very words. is he?
I'll show him!" And. turning. 1 ex.
claimed:
go! Begone! Get you gone! Get
away! Go along! Be off! of with
you! Get along with you! Go about
your business! Go your way! Avaunt!
Aroyntl Away with your
"Whewr' cried the saucy man
"What an irasclble. susceptible. ex-
citable. irritable. fretful. fidgety, pee
wish, hasty. quick. warm. hot. touchy.
testy. pettish. waspish. snappish, pet
ulant, peppery, fiery. passionate, cbUl
eric fellow 1t is!'
This annoyed NE.
"Sir," said. you shall not ridlcule,
derlde, laugh at, mock. quiz, rallv.
flout, twit, roast. taunt or make game
of me. This is Ill treatment, annoy
ance. molestatioD. abuse. oppression,
persecution, outrage, Of u kind that ]
shall not stand"
The man apparently wanted TO Tight
for he continued meditatively. What
a corpulent, stout, fat. plump, chubby,
club faced. lubberly, 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 a judge Of attemptip>; "by tooth
and nail. vi ct armis. at the point Of
the sword and at one fell swoop. 10 DO
violent, 10 run high. terment, effer-
vesce, run wild. run riot, to break tho
peace, to outherod Hero6 and TO run
emuck."
l denied the charge with vigor, 1T
is false. untrue, unfounded. fictitious,
invented, ben trovato, counterfeit. spu
rious" | cried. The policeman is .
hypocrite. tale teller. shuffier. dissem-
bier. serpent and Baron Munchaussn.
| am innocent. stainless, unspotted, In
offensive. dovelike. lamblike. with
clean hands and with a clear con-
science. demand atonement, repara.
tion, compensation. precipitation,
amends and satisfaction"
Take them all. Mr.. Roget" said the
judge, and l was going for the police
man when | awoke. And so the con-
versation. which could hardly be call.
ed a model of conciscpess brevity.
terseness, compression. condensation
or plthlness. came 10 close terinlna-
tlon. conclusion. flnis, finale, finish, de-
termination and end.