The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-26

vrevcusahia fault in an English writer. Severe criticism is often made or the .aeA of accuracy in the three fundamenIais' grammer, rhetoric, punctuation. some writers who aim to meet an epheHerai fancy--secured in a day. and as soon over-are guilty of much careiessness' anu seem to consider good English a non reoufsfte. Indeed, with the use of dialect and foreign bon-mots, also of provincial isms.s there seems to be danger or in- troducine foreign clements into our lan- guages that may seriously mar Its purity. Our writers have the opportunity Of It's | preservation, and not inconststentiy, they ! might now consider themselves as bur \ Nden-bearers," in the cause of pure and / true English.
 Professor Hills argument Gin his work on rhetoric and composition) for had rather and had better, is an example Of what may take place in a language from habit. He says, had rather and had better forms that have been in good use for more than four centuries, are quite as good English today as would rather and might better.p Professor Hills methods are so simple, clear and practical, that we do not feel like disputing his argu- ment; though he makes issue with modern Rrammarians when he says: "Others still under the hard and fast rules laid down in some grammers, condemn certain ex- pressions that are embedded in the foun- dations of the language, expressions which, SO far from being bad English, are the best English, for they are so thoroughly English that they are not easily transferable, word for word. into other ianguages.'' There are those who differ with Professor Hill that the rules of English may be so transgressed How ever many provincialisms have Tn time become admissible. But tongue that would preserve its dignity. must preserve Its truth. .E
 Haste must account for much that would seem deficiency in Ameri- can literature, we are persuaded. That wicked imp hurry" is playing sad tricks with our Notwithstanding with great pro- gressiveness, much effectiveness.
 It is true that there is something to be said in admiration of that outburst of fancy. or that glowing analysis that thinks not of the words by which they are conveyed: The garb of thought when first expressed, is almost matter l of inconsistencies to most writers. Some plod with words and matter at the same l time, and there are those who go farther, and consciously regard every phrase, and its position In the sentence, while the snind is hunting for its trend. But the labor of the thought is usually observable an such work, by the overdignity of its style. with that less pdluStdhiIfS author, whose language is evidently only a means to an end, there are frequent lapses in good Englishs,s- but t<usualiy from such. wfSters we receive the warmth of the fire froin the altar. Imagination bears the mark oS being fancy free" and reason Is untrammeied. None will say, however, that this is warrant for im- perfect English-rather more the pity-as Is the case, in a review of the Youth of Fa ms hy A Banks Young and old must enjoy these sketches. as we like to read of the early life of noted people; and Dr. Banks style Is so pleasing-but, take glance at this sentence, which is one found in his talk about Mrs. Harriett Beecher Stowe "who plucked gorgeous lilies and blazing pop pies and the blue corn flower in the hay field in the quivering heat of June."
 America's National Hymn.
 Our national hymn My Country. 'Tis of Thee" which receives fresh homage with every returning July, is an example of nasty work, which has little but the betrayal of zeal to recommend 1t. It was the outcome of spontaneous enthusiasm written in half an hour on scrap of waste paper-it yet rings with the call of patriotism, and bursts forth in the song of national pride. It caught the heart of the common people, and there 1t is en- shrined-and Is exultingly sung on all our days of national celebration. No one was so surprised by the success of the hymn than it's author, Rev. Samuel Fran cis Smith, and he thus expressed him self about its popularity: To-day 1t Is called the national hymn simply because the people that compose the nation love It. One dismal day in February, 1882, about half an hour before sunset, was turning over the leaves of one of the hooks ftfn which Is now known as America I liked the spirited movement of it. not knowing It. at that time to be God Save the King I glanced at the German words and saw that they were patriotic, and instantly felt Nhe impulse to write a patriotic hymn of my own, adapted to the tune. Picking up a scrap of waste paper which lay near me, I wrote at once, probably within half an hour the hymn America as it is known every where. The whole hymn stands today as 1t stood on the bit of waste paper five or six inches long and two and a half wide
 A Masterpiece of Prose.
 Who now reads that masterpiece of prose Sir Thomas More's "Utopia?" Only the book worm" Yet 1t is a most de- lightful imaginative history The story is of an ideal land of perfection; and how it makes the thought soar! But its quaint
 
 description of that perfect country, in shape fashioned like the new moon, where community in all things ruled su- preme. where nature. art and religion were ideal, is expressed in flawless Eng fish Those who love quaint and beauti- ful language love to read "Utopia."
 Fine Writing.
 A popular critics rebuke to a young novelist for a tendency In his to writ ing fine" has called from Ella W. Peat tie a plea for the encouragement in our literature of the very tendency the critic deprecated. Mrs. Peattie urges that our modern worship of matter-of-factness and our instinctive distrust of anything pro nounced" tend to drag our literature from her place in the arts We quote from Mrs. PeattIe's paper dn The Critic for June) as follows:
 Now we must beware lest we decorate our ideas, we dare apostrophize nothing we are inoculated against passion, and fantasy is as out of favor as embezzle- ment! It is not thought sane te be en- thusiastic about anything; to be ardent is as great an offense as to be unsophis- ticated, and anyone who is eloquent may expect the sardonic lifting of eyebrows at his expense.
 'I do not say, of course. that the Con- tinental Europeans are as heafy and self conscious as all this. for really Mir. Ma eterlinck seems more or less indifferent to public opinion, and probably would not aDOlORize though he were caught in