The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-28

and rarely set i'm his true light. For
one thing he is seldom credited with
ability TO use correct English 1nat
he occasionally butchers the grammar
and manufactures his own dictionary
is of course undeniable: but you would
most probably err in calling him an
ignoramus for even his errors are at
tractiye for their independence ana
picturesqueness. 1t may therefore be
worth our while to consider a cluster
of his inaccuracies and from his view
point analyze them and see the picture
that is vivid ins his mind as he uses
them.
For example:
When you 'tetch" a man, you get
closer to him than when you merely
touch" him.
''Furder'' is unquestionably a long
distance beyond either further or
farther
When you are "yon" side of the
river you may be just on the bank, but
when "yan" side you are up on the
safe. serene hilltop overlooking the
valley.
If a mountain dame tells you your
sermon is powerful good" it means
that you have preached far better
than when the metropolitan lady gasps
How beautiful
rect, unglossed utterance there is IN
the statement Jim was sick and L
holp him with his craps.
If you are going to town, you reach
there as soon as you get TO the cor
porate limits; but when you git thar,
you are right up against the court
house from which all roads In the
county are measured.
You may exercise your persuasive
powers a little longer when man
puts you off in a smooth. oily, gram
NAUTICAL phrase but when he firmly
calculates, 81 hain't a-goin' to do it,"
you might as we'll save your time and
lungs and brains
Onions are the vegetables growing
In the garden or boiled juiceless on
the MONDAY plate or picked in the
lar: but "ingerns''-myi N.Y. Can't
you smell the very odor and don't the
scattering juice fill your eyes with I'M
willing tears?
soft limbertwig apple is good; but
a "saft'' one-how much mellower.
sweeter and more palatable!
man may count himself caught
when his pursuer is barely in sight;
but when "eotch,'' he is in the very
hand of the pursuer, hard and fast and
cannot get away.
If you were about to drown. you
would undoubtedly be safer if firmly
"hilt' than loosely held" by your
rescuer.
What use is there for the in
hoist and "joist"? Why not make
an photographic shortcut with our
highland friend and say "hyst" and
"jyst."?
When a sturdy cottager warned
Mecklenburg- hunting boys against
bears and rattlesnakes they could not
mistake the meaning of his words: IF
IND he n ha1I-fallC
III git vel"
What if the names of Grecian sages
are somewhat abbreviated-the phil
osopher given two syllables CSC
crates''). and the orator three (''Dem-
os-thenes")? 1t simply illustrates the
slaW that in prem euncing proper names
there is no law.
The faint of Understanding "iniaui-
ty'' you may possibly endure: but i'm
i-uuit- y'-how your blood Is stirred
and you want to 'quit' it at once!
vigorous" is a strong masculine
word: but ''vy-gor-ous'-is there less
of blunt power and energy?
If thing is said to be inevitable"
YOU still hope there may be some way
out of it: but when it is "in-e-vite-
able" you might as we'll surrender on
the spot
How fought" was so transformed
may not be clear. but there is a bould-
er-like ruggedness and honest ethics
I'm the PHRASE: 81 ort to go to schurch
today"
When the aged sire says I'm toll
able pyeart." you may know he Is IN
pretty good physical condition.
You may have creepy sensations
along your spine or upon your scalp
when YOU are afraid but when you
are "aferad' your teeth actually be-
gin TO chatter with CONSERVATION.
You are also reminded of the days
of Elizabethan English when your
Blue Ridge neighbor with character
istic independence says, I'm not be-
holden to any mani"
''Shet your mouth" may be a little
fnelegant. but il is certainly forceful
and is likely to conclude the CONVEX
satiOn.
"Tote the baby" means not to f1raw
him on the little sled or give HIN a
ride on the barnyard calf. but to take
him up on your own back or in your
arms close to your throbbing heart.
To fetch" the cows from the pas
fure may require little more than let
ting down the bars. but there is more
vigor i'm the effort required to bring
them on the part of the fellow who re-
ports. "I fotch 'emi"
The hunter who saw a deer NAV
have been a whole valleys breadth
distant from his game: but the man
who "seed" him was surely within
gunshot
The soldier who fought was pro-
badly a quiet infantryman at his post
I'm the ranks: but the fellow who eft
the enemy''-whv. you can hear his
war-cry and see the clash of his bayo-
net i'm face-to-face encounter.
A man may "perspire" merely be-
cause the weather is warm: but when
at hiIl-country labor boiling-point
temperature is generated. he simply
"sweats''-and no other word describes
it.
In the lowlands a ''rock-house" is
n house built out OF rocks quarried and
hauled and fitted in place by the ma
son: but to the mountaineer Rock
House" (let him begin it with capitals)
is a valley overlooking. mountainous
closed bnulder-river cave. God-builf
and undestroyed by the assaults of
amounted centuries.
Thus we might go on through long
vocabulary: but these random. disar-
ranged examples are sufficient to IL
lustrate the very decided color of the
nnschooled mountaineer'S English
And SO concerning his "bad grammar