Evening star., 1907-11-10
Troubles with Words

Troubles with Words
IN homes where the near friends and visitors
are mainly literary people, lawyers, judges,
professors, and clergymen,-th children's ears
become early familiarized with wide vocabu-
laries. 1t is natural for them to pick up any
words that fall in their way; it is natural for
them to pick up big and little ones indiscrimi-
nately; it is natural for them to use without
fear any word that comes to their net, no mat
ter how formidable it may be as to size. As
result, their talk is curious and funny mus
kerry clatter of little words, interrupted at in
tervals by the heavy artillery crash of word
of such imposing sound and size that it seems
to shake the ground and rattle the windows.
Sometimes the child gets wrong idea OF a
word which it has picked up by chance, and
attaches to it a meaning which Impairs Its
usefulness but this does not happen as often
as one might expect it would. Indeed, 1t
happens with an infrequency which may. be
regarded as remarkable. As a child, Susy had
good fortune with her large words, and she
employed MANY of them. She made no more
than her fair share of mistakes. Once when
she thought something very funny was going
to happen (but it dln't), she was racked and
torn with laughter, by anticipation. But ap-
parently she still felt sure OF her position, for
she said, " II it had happened, | should have
been transformed transported with glee
And earlier when she was a little maid of
five years she informed visitor that she had
time when Clara was "crucifed" !" lchristenedl.
In Heidelberg, when Susy was six, she no.
ticed that the Schloss gardens were populous
with snails creeping all about everywhere.
One day she found a new dish on her table, and
inquired concerning it. and learned that it
was made of snails. She was awed and i'm
pressed and said:
Wild ones, mama?'
She was thoughtful and considerate of
others-an acquired quality, doubt; no
one seems to be born with it One hot day at
home i'll Hartford, when she was little child,
her mother borrowed her fan several times Ga
Japanese one, value five cents), refreshed her
self with it a moment or two, then handed 1t
back with word of thanks Susy knew her
mother would use the fan all the time if she
could do it without putting deprivation upon
its owner. She also knew that her mother
could not be persuaded to do that \ relief
must be devised somehow. Susy devised it.
She got five cents out of her money box and
carried it to Patrick, and asked him to take
it down town "a mile and a hali) and buy
Japanese fan and bring it home. He did it 4;
and thus thoughtfully and delicately was the
exigency met and the mothers comfort Sc
cured. 1t is to the child s credit that she did
not save herself expense by bringing down an
other and more costly kind of fan from upstairs,
but was content to act upon the impression
that her mother desired the Japanese kind
content to accomplish the desire and stop
with that, without troubling about the wis
dom or unwiSdom of it.
Sometimes, while she was still child, her
speech fell into quaint and strikingly express
sive forms. Oncc-aged nine or ten-she
came to her mothers room when her sister
Jean baby and said Jean was crying III
the nursery, and asked if She might ring for
the nurse Her mother asked:
as she crying hard?'-meanng cross,
ugly.
"Well, no, mama. 1t is weary, lonesome
cry"