Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-01-17

crlckets,'' "shucks,' by jng,'
"by cracky,'' "dinged if 1 don t."
jeeminy-criminny-whiz," ''gosh
DANCED" "gosh almighty" 81
swan" Fgee whiz," "gee whilli-
KEN" formed on Jerusalem), "by
gravy" "by grab,'' "dad cooks"
dad burn" Shy gum,'' "great
SCOTT 81 ll-fred,' "In be dog
on'd," or "dagon'd,' Barrie uses
similar form, "dagont" in "Senti-
mental Tommy''), ''for the land
sakes,' "my goodness sob. N.Y.
"the dickens" ''laws-a-mercy,"
"plague take it, "oh, foot "oh,
sugar Many of these phrases, APP
parently inoffensive, in reality mean
much more than may appear at first
glance. Possibly the woman who
said that the three authors she was
accustomed to remember when she
got her fingers against the stove were
chickens, Hewitt Burns was not
aware that 'dickens' means little
devil ut Is a contraction of the old
dimutive devilkins.) Change the
in darn to m and you have the orig
inal of this word. "Dinged if |
don't" means "damned if I don t."
while "gosh danged,' ':gosh a
mighty" etc, are stronger still. And
so it goes.
! a few words concerning the writ
ers of Indiana dialect will perhaps
not be out of place here. Of all
+ these the two greatest are, of course,
/ Edward Eggleston and James Whit
comb Riley-Eggleston in prose and
Riley IN verse. Of the two Eggles-
ton is more distinctively Hoosier than
! Riley. AS most persons are aware,
the dialect III Riley's poems is "doc-
! tored' somewhat to meet the exigen-
cles Of the meter of the rhythm; he
= occasionally manufactures a phrase
to shpp off the tongue easily. Some
harsh criticisms have been made of
Riley on this score, but, we think,
entirely without justifcation-cer-
taiinly with none if there be such
thing as poetic license, or if success
! justifes means.
Eggleston, to the other hand-de-
spite some serious defects in his lit
erary style-reproduces with remark
able fidelity, the real Hoosier dialect
OF the southern part of the state. Of
course, it may occasionally occur to
some of his readers that the talk of
such characters as Mrs. Means, or Of
the Rev. Mr.. Bosaw, the hardshell
Baptist in "The Hoosier Schoolmas-
ter,'' is overdrawn, but any one that
is acquainted with even the Mrs.
Meanses and the Bosaws of today
knows that in this respect he "under-
draws rather than overwraws. Egg
gleston does, however, overdraw some
of his characters. In most cases he
is moderately skillful in his use of
the various methods by which a
speaker may be made by the language
he uses to betray his own character
or to reveal that of another Every
one that has read "The Hoosier
Schoolmaster' must have felt the eff
fectiveness of the iteration and reit-
Grafton of ono lickin', no larnin,
says L. by Pete Jones, and of
"We're all selfish akordin' to my
tell,' and ''to be sure' by the bas-
ket maker, who "fit' the British at
Lundy's lane. But, on the other
hand, some have felt that an excess
sive use Of such methods has often
resulted in a caricature rather than a
character.
From the title one would naturally
expect that the author of "The Gen
tleman from Indlana,' was a writer
of Hoosier dialect As matter of
fact, Harrington is not to be so class
ed. "The Gentleman from Indi-
ana,' in the first place, is not a dia-
lect story; and further, far as the
individuality of the dialect it does
contain is concerned, the scene of the
story might just as well have been
laid in Illinois, or Ohio, or even Kan
sas The book has numerous excel
; lent qualities. but they are not such
as come from a skilful use of dialect.
Certainly if the author possesses a
1.-THE of the knowledge of folk-speech
: possessed by Riley or Eggleston, he
) has not displayed it. To genuine
Hoosier, 1.-THE Gentleman from Indi-
ana is unreal. Such an one much
prefers the authors less labored
and really delightful story, Mon
, sieur Beaueaire'
Before closing, we quote the sub
; IL o,f ,,orta,,ornt