The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-13

4 ~ q AAt'44sS III IL IGLSO4l ltlI SNLc ALS VI
conversation which may be heard any
day on the street cars are straws which
show which way the wind of culture is
blowing in this country, and the indica-
tons are not always as satisfactory as
they might be.
4 fairly good example of what some
people call culture is to be found in a
remark made by young lady who was
beguiling the tedium of a long ride on
the street cars by chattering amiably to
a friend. This is a part of what she
said:
',Ye see. he plays these choice bits o. music,
and I ike 'em, but manner n Ant Jennie they
don't care Tor those sort Of things n 50 1
told him TO play something they would appre-
Gate
The speaker was well dressed, and II
she had not opened her mouth would
have passed for a well educated young
lady. But three things were the mat
ter with her little speech, any one of
which was sufficient proof that she was
not in any sense Of the word thorough
Iy educated.
The dialect Of her pronunciation
AAs-SAAI Ia NC JCSii AVL . ga, S44ASC SAtB-
shod ways Of speaking are so much the
fashion in this land that it takes some
care TO steer clear of them without
seeming affected. OF course, it is not
necessary to demoralize the second per
sonal pronOun, to fiatten the vowel in
the word aunt" or to clip the participle
into a consonant, for all these faults
can be avoided without affectation by a
speaker who is not in a hurry. There
are dozen different accents among
Americans, none Of which reaches the
distinction Of dialect, but each Of which
adds a certain piqUancy and charm to
the speech of a person who uses pure
English. Even genuine dialect is not
offensive where there is no Pre- tence to
anything fine But it should be i'm
pressed on aspiring youth that If they
wish TO appear educated, their English
must first receive attention, and that
one Of the important branches of Eng
lish education is grammar. The rudi-
ments Of grammar are all that IS really
necessary. The elaborate parsing and
analysis Of old-fashioned schools is not
especially valuable. It does not take a
great degree Of erudition to enable one
to know that those sort of things is
not good English, and that the pr0noun
/ IS not necessary after a noun as sub
stantive- The person who says Mother
she vent TO Boston or Sarah and
Frances they didn't think So IS sim
ply the victim of a bad habit in speech.
Firally, the most serious fault in this
little speech is one not of training but
Of feeling. It inevitably happens in this
mixed up country Of ours that children
are more highly educated than parents
and older friends. so far as books are
concerned, but they might much better
not have the education than allow their
parents to feel any difference because OF
it. The semi patronizing and only
partly anecti0nate contempt with
which many half-educated Americans
treat their elders is one Of the ugliest
features Of our civilization. The as
sumption Of the young lady in question,
openly made. was that she could appre-
Ciate music which Ter mother and aunt
could not, but nevertheless wished to
show q good-natured Difference to their
lower tastes Somebody ought 10 ex-
plain TO her that the very foundation Of
culture is care for the feelings Of others
genuine thoUghfuIness, not superficial
deference-and that f She wished to
write herself down a hopeIessly iU-bred
/ person, she need only treat those whom
she considered her interiors in a patron
izing OF contemptuoUs way.