The Greeley tribune., 1908-06-11

We LIlSht VNpNNN ~ -
our dictionaries as being 'obsoie'e'
Hut It is not; on the CONTRARY, whi''
of undoubtedly very ancient lineage "
is still Coin of the Realm ana e"i
rent today at its original face Vaiue
and will legitimately pass with any
one in high, or low. society who may
elect to use it. quote aEah from 'he
facetious Mr. Pepys. who NOTES IN MS
diary October .. 1864, matter oil TWO
hundred and fifty years ago as tol'
lows:
so away back to Clerkenwell
church. thinking to have spt sight OF
la belle Boteler again. but failed ana
so after church walked over the fields
home, and there my wife was angry
with me for not coming home. and
for gaddinE abroad to look q beauties
she told me plainly. 20 I made all
peace, and TO supper"
.Rattled." Now here 10 word which
We would naturally look upon as be-
ing net only very modersn slang but
most likely OF Yankee origin. 1t is
only within the past twenty-five years
that 1t has come into quite common
use with us. and being particularly
adapted to the hurry and push OF our
age and the highly nervous tension
of our people. the very sound of the
word would, In the absence OF other
proof, well nigh warrant US in claim
ing 1t as "our very own" Alas! II
is not new: but on the contrary very
old How old We cannot say. But
here again this ubiquitous Mr. Pepys
is found to have made use of it and
to have attached precisely the same
meaning to it that we attach to it in
our use of the word today. said Mr..
Pepys in his entry in his diary in
March 1863:
The Duke of York having by special
order directed them to taxi the as
sistance of Middleton and me, for as
much as there nigh be need OF ad
vice in what relates to the government
of the ships in the harbor. so l did
lay open the law to them. and rattle
the master attendants our OF their
wits almost
The Sparrow NuisAnee. Within a
quarter of a century the common En-
glish sparrow has increased to such
an extent in the United States as to
be regarded in every section an un-
mittigated nuisance; l say unmitti-
gated because hts good qualities are
so few and so inconsequentA as not to
be worth considering while his bad
traits are we'll nigh innumerable. He
can't sing. but he can drive away out
of competition almost all other birds
which can and his irritating chirp il
enough to PROSTATE semi-invalids with
nervous exhaustion and drive stroas
men to drink He is suppu0e1 - be an
insectivorous bird, and undoubtedly he
could subsist on insects. but he never
partakes of a repast in that line 50
long as seed or grain or any fruit
priced of man IL in sight. We know
that he Is an importation, and the i'm.
porter. whoever he may have been
Is exercrated by the pious and roundly
cursed by the ungodly. But 1t seems
we have been misinformed - to his
status in the country from which he
came. We have been told that he was
not held in such disesteem In Merry
England as he is with us. and that
his rapid increase In his new home
was owning to some peculiarly favor
able condition In his western inviron
ment. But here again We seem to
have erred in supposing something
new even in bird characteristics. He
appears, in short. to have been con
sidered the same sort of a nuisance
in England that he Is with US today
In proof of which we find that nearly
a hundred years ago he is mentioned
in that unfavorable light by Charles
Lamb in The Old Benchers OF the
Inner Temple" where he states the
fact that when DANES Darlington
brought in his accounts to be audited
for the year as treasurer:
THE following singular charge wal
unanimously disallowed by the bench
Item disbursed Mr.. Allen twent,
shillings for stun to poison the spar
rows. by may orders"