The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-27

Some are born to the Broad A." some achieve it by laborious methods late in life, and some have 1t thrust upon them by the woman who achieves 1t and says, Tell 'em um comin' to the meetin' this orfternoon." On the wo-. man born to it the affliction sets well, even with all the errors of its use that accompany 1t. She who achieves It never does so wholly and entirely as II to the manner born. She slips up on 1t, she slips down on it, she. in base ball paralnce, fumbles the ball to the de- stractioni of her friends or to their amusement, according to the condition of their nervous system. It Is hard to forgive the acquiring of an error when the acquiring means the spending Of such pains and time in the undertak- ing When one falls from good to pad then from bad to worse one Is an object of commisseration to ones friends; put when laboriously and with strenuous effort climbs the same route it offends.
 This Is not wholesale slaughter of the Broad A. It has it's place In our language according to the lexicograph- CTS, but it is plea to the ambitious to leave it in its place, and desist from the pastime of spreading 1t all over the dictionary. and putting 1t conspic- uously in improper places.
 I heard clever Montgomery woman
 
 If she intended building on Perry street: "No I have never felt the ne- cessity" We'll there are large ma jorfty of women who have never felt the necessity of acquiring the Broad A. But there are others. and they know what they need. Be it far from me to say. Now the thing to do as a first step to the joy of the Broad A Is to investigate the subject and dis xvrH says naturally. T never seen nothin' of no hat no where round here;" that Is one thing, but if one studiously goes to work master that superfluity of mega tives 1t is another and quite astonishing. Yet we do, see women who make every effort to take on errors that prevail on the other side of the briny deep. Why not stick rather to the ills we have than fly to others that we know not Of" Why not be satisfied with our own dropping of the final G., the ab. breviating of them" into "'em," etc, that set well on us and leave alone the nisplacing of the H and the abuse of the Broad A, as do our English ob Jectss of adoration and their American imitators. The plethory of negatives lis a thing dear to the uncultured in every part of the English speaking world. It is a more aggravating er-
 
 as Afternoon, Past, Fast. Can't, Dance, Chance, Last, etc, according to some high authorities than to use the double negative, drop the final c, or even get ones pronouns out of whack, for the former is so to speaks a sin of com mission and the latter is one of omis sion. The woman who says to you in the most play lady, style, 'I corn't see you this ofternoon as am goin' to the dornce this evenin'" expects to be an object of admiration to you. but the one who says, I'm comin' to see you an bring 'em with me-" Is not even aware of her short coming. She is not as guilty.
 When one studies the subject of the Broad A 1t has a tendency to make one know less and lass as to where to use It; but that Is all right as 1t may Influence one to. drop the subject. f a9 seH
 Professor Whitney says that the leading orthoepists require a flattened sound like the vowel sound in fat in the words calm, calf. half, aunts alas. pass, bask, path. laugh, staff, raft and after. Richard Grant White says that this statement is far too sweeping and that some of the most cultured speakers of both England and America use the Broad A in the above words. So it may plainly be seen the doctors disagree and that a mere amateur student Is bound to get some broad A where it belongs by no authority on earth. Notice how offending to one sense of the fitness of things it Is to see woman otherwise dressed within an inch of her life, wearing a pair of rusty look ing shoes or having an uncared for look about her hair. Well that is very much the feeling one has toward the woman who affects the broad A." while she murders the language throughout the rest of the sentence.