The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1903-02-12
HE WAS ABOVE SLANG.
And Yet, His Closing OrAtion Die
Not Reject Much to His
Credit.

| she is the limit, salu the young
| woman.
what a beastly expression" re-
| marked the man; where in the world
| do you hear such things? You have
no barroom acquaintance that !
know Of"
what would you suggest instead?"
asked the penitent woman. II sup
pose I got that from my brother He
uses a miserable lot of slang, and it
is 500 forcible. If you can suggest
anything that will do instead, I'll &C.
cept your amendment thankfully"
"Youmight say: She is impossible
suggested the man, gravely, according
to the Baltimore Sun.
81 believe impossible is slangy, il
it isn't slang. il was never used in
grandmother's day, and that is a
pretty sure Indication that 1t is not
good English, for have 1t from grand
mother herself that slang was not
known in her generation"
"They talked all right them" said
the man, regretfully. "You can see
that when you go to a play the scene
Of which is laid century or so ago.
The women of to-day have no vocabu-
larry at all. / hear them saying to
beat the band and mot on your life
and he is the limit and dozen like
expressions, and it shocks me to a
standstill. The other day my digni-
fed married sister told me quite Sc
riously that she had shipped her
cook and little later | heard her tell
her husband that they would have to
sing for their breakfast l hope she
would not talk so before any but her
nearest and dearest, but one can never
tell what a woman is going to do in
this emancipated age"
"'Sing for their breakfast was not
bad. That is pure Mother Goose, which
is almost as respectable as being pure
Shakespearean. Besides, when a wom-
an has shipped her cook she is not re-
sponsible for what she says, and might
be forgiven for using those naughty
masculine words that begin with d.
Sometimes, however, my limitations
in regard to language do worry me.
This is generally when one of my prop
er friends has been to call on me and
has talked book English. One came
the other day who had such words as
'supinely' and 'cursorily' falling trip
pingly from her tongue. She talked OF
bassos who had the tenor tempera-
ment, and of sociological problems,
and looked pleasant and said just as
little as was consistent with my char
acter as a woman. I only used one
dreadful word In her presence, and
that was when ! said that a certain
small boy was terror He is, in
deed, very annoying she replied,
gravely. After she had gone ! went
into the library and had seance with
the unabridged dictionary-excuse Sc
ance,' for that is really what it was.
I learned some beautiful words in an
hour, and quite patched up my dam
aged vocabulary. i am waiting to try
my new requirements on some one
worth while, and that is why you note
no improvement in me-"
80. fudge! I did not intend to roast
you into this state of humility" said
the man. at is not natural, and it Is
not pleasant. You are good child, as
a usual thing, and anyone who would
make you feel bad is tough 'un. beg
your pardon, my dear Alphonse; not
once, but many times. What I want to
know is, where you learn these express
sions. Certainly, not in the drawing
room, where any man who used them
would be made to go away back and sit,
down. | suppose you must, then, pick
them up when you roll your little hoop
on the street, and I'm ashamed that
you should be so easily contaminated.
don't kick at much, but l do draw the
line at slang, you may bet your last
cent on that"
And the woman only smiled a mystic
rious smile.