The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-05-04
Gbe GRAMMAR
OF LOVE
Copyright, 1908, by T. G. Mcclure
go. By S. MARIA TALBOT

T Copyright, 1903, by T. G. Mcclure
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
"You was the prettiest one at the
ball last night, Priscilla"
"Oh, Danw
Hanged II you wasn't, pet"
Priscilla put her hands over her ears
and repeated the words you wasn't"
with outraged grammatical scorn.
'The deuce! It's that old language
business again, is it, PrisH | can't
break of old habits, not even the eter-
nal one Of loving you, wife"
Somewhat molllned by the tender
tone of his words, Priscilla put on her
trim riding habit and was adjusting
her hat before the glass when Dan
called up from the lower hall
"oh, Priscilla! Were It you who took
my gloves from the hatrack"
Prlscilla's reply, "It was not" was
of so severe and stately a character
that Dan down below shivered with 81
lent glee, while up above the mirror
reflected to his wife a countenance
over the judicial sternness Of which a
smile fickered like summer lightning.
They were soon canterlng down the
beautiful hedge lined country lanes,
Dams dog, Rev, bounding along be-
hind.
"Will we 90 by Jacksons lane, Prls,
or across the glen pasture1"
''Will we gof" echoed the girl. Dan,
your grammar will kill me yet
whats up now. PriscillaT inquired
Dan blandly.
"It is up to you, Dan, to use your
'shalls and wills properly"
Great scotty' grOaned her husband.
"She uses slang"
Ignoring the interruption, his wife
persisted;
"You should say Shall we go down
Jackson's laneT"
81 see, Priscilla. You shall go down
Jackson's lane whether you will or
not"
dan, you are simply absurd" half
laughed, half pouted his mentor, who
was a bride Just from Boston and
dotted on Language" such language as
shuddered at the trenching Of Anal let
ters upon the initial ones of the word
following and to whom italian "a" was
fetish and the undetlled use of the fu-
lures cult
Dams childish associations had been
more with negro servants than with
grammarlans, all owing to the death
OF his mother and the indolent ire
sponslblllty Of his father He was un.
able to change the habits OF speech of
a lifetime and even thought lightly Of
the "scrupulosity" Of expression Of the
few Yankees he had known,
He fell In love with Priscilla head
over heels-boots and ALL" as he cx.
pressed II, when she came on visit
to an aunt Of his living near his own
ancestral home. That he had been
able to win the girls heart showed
that love laughs at grammars as well
as at locksmiths.
She thought 80 trivial matter as
his verbal inaccuracies could be easily
mended, and he believed that what to
him was her purltanical prlmness OF
language would soon give way before
the breezy ease and untrammeled free
dom of manner and speech Of his be
loved south, dlsdainful of crampinC
rules and technical formalities. In
short, he was an educated man In
whom carelessness Of expression was
ingralned, yet whose vital and vlgor
Gus ideas were wont TO put to rout
his wife's valiant onslaughts In the
line OF rule and model.
His wife would attack him with
Ruskin, to which he would listen with
an impatience only kept within bounds
by his love for her
Listen, Dan, to what he says: A
we'll educated gentleman may not
know many languages-mRy have read
very few books. But whatever Ian
guage he know he knows precisely;
whatever word he pronounces he pro
nounces rightly; above all, he is learn
ed in the peerage Of words; knows the
words Of true descent and ancient
blood at a glance from the words of
modern cAnaille; remembers all their
ancestry, their intermarriRges, distant
relationship and offices they held in
any time and in any country Now,
Isn't that fine, DanY pleaded Pris-
ella.
And while this man OF words was
tracing up their peerage his bosom
friend was stealing away the heart OF
his wife, and the foundations Of his
home were crumbling beneath his feet,
don't know the ancestry sc many
words, but there is one that is Of my
own descent. II is the word honor
You will always hear me speak that
plainly with the true Carroll accent in
our home, for myself, for you and for
the children who may be ours, please