The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1906-10-28
Colonel Harvey'S DiStemper.

The campaign up in New York
seems to have gotten on The nerves
of the estimable Col. George Har-
vey. In his capacity as two editors
in one, the fount of inspiration and
the channel of reason for Hnrper's
Weekly and the North American Re
view, this misfortune savors of
double calamity; for he has let his
distemper creep into both publica-
tions.
Thus, in the Weekly, he quotes Il
Bostonian who aspersed the article
by II. q. Wells on The Hub. Il
seems the speaker from the Back
Bay had answered Mr.. Wells by say
ing that more copies had been sold
of a single book by a Bostonian,
THE Song of Our Syrian Guest, -
than of all Mr.. Wells books put to-
gether- Colonel Harvey quotes the
loyalist's observation, names the
author in question as William Allen
Wright, calls the book The Song
of the Syrian Guest" and then oh
serves that if mention had been
made of William Alien White the
Weekly would have been more i'm
pressed. Readers of this comment
should remember two tuing5-that
the author was William Allen
Knight, not Wright, and that his
Song of Our Syrian Guest is one
of the most beautiful essays ever
printed in the English language. II
is easy to believe that more copies
Of it have sold than of ali the bboilz
Mr.. Wells ever wrote, or Colonel
Harvey, or even Mr.. White.
Two other instances of irascibil-
ity crop out from the North Amer
lean Review. The first is this:
Our girls have not yet acquired the
peculiar beauty Of the cultivated Eng
fish voice because Of continuing dis
position 10 speak with the muscles of the
throat rather than OF the lips. but this
practice is very FAR removed from the
nasal method. and possesses a distinct
advantage In freedom from the Eng usn
dOll-lIke mOnOJOny. In common, We sdS-
peCL with Mr.. HOWelis, We ind little
that is Interesting. aside from her physi-
cal appearance, IN the American girl OF
today between the ages of nfJeen and
twenty-five. She has failed TO keep paCS
in any respect with the American boy,
whose advancement we recently re-
marked with satisfaction. Indeed. If tins
blunt truth be spoken, she is an mol
cradle bore, self-consctous, ignorant
and concerned chiefly with matrimonial
aspirations.
Then comes the following on
slang:
The Use Of slang by boys finds some
excuse in unavoidable association with
unTefned men; its use b. girls Is sim
ply Odious and a direct reflection upon
the attention and taste of their mothers
This is easily proven by inquiry into
the sources OF the petted phrases.
Take, Tor example two Of the latest
. ''TWenty-three" and 'SkidOO.' These
have slightly different meanings, the eX-
act Interpretation of the former being
Ito the rear and of the latter "sca M
per- or flee IN haste" The former had
its origin at the race track which Ordi-
narily has only sufficient width To aC-
cOmmodCte twenty-five horses standing
side by side, so that the tweuty-thiTd is
necessarily relegated to an uutayOrable
position.
The use of the coined phrase. there
fore. implies a knowledge of details Of
professional sport, the possession o.
which by young girl is distinctly un
1 becoming. The second is a mere substi
tute for "skedaddle," itself of Ameri
can origin and now regarded by common
assent as egregiOusly vulgar. Scores OF
like Illustrations might be put in evi
denCe. but these should suffice TO con.
vince a mother, teacher. or even a com,
paratively ignorant girl herself OF tht
desirability of seeking the roots Of terms
whose use she has come to regard as
an evidence Of smartness.
OF course the reader can forgive
the mistake as to ''The Song of Ou1
Syrian Guest" But he will find il
harder. much harder. to forget that
the brilliant Colonel Harvey. genial
usually in spite of all his cleverness
voted the American girl a bore. and
that while he amused himself ex-
planning the origin of modern slang
he blamed the luchess young wo-
man who dared to use 1t.
No more Of this. colonel or ''twen.
ty-three" and "slddoo" both for you