Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-15
A-Hunting for Words

"A a sigh OF relief. Indeed 1t begins n little
earlier than that. About ceven-forty even
.the most faithful stenographer begins to
wooigather. Letters dictated In that last
half hour are likely to be addressed Mrs.
Henrietta jenkins Esq.," or Miss John
Jones'" The patient paying teller has to
count over his notes three times to be sure
OF not giving Ave instead OF a one. The
glorious Generalization spreads from desk
to desk No matter who we arc or how hard
we have worked. It is Saturday noon, and
for few hours we are going to forget the
war and spend our pocketful OF carefree
fresh-minted minutes, As the poet laureate
OF Philadelphia puts tt
Whenever it's Saturday and all my work
Ia through,
. take a walk on Chestnut street to see
what news is new"
LIVERY Jack and Jill has his or her own
IL Ideas of a Saturday afternoon adven-
ture. our stenographer hastens off with
laughing group to the Auomat and tho
movies Our friend with the she-rimmed
spectacles tethered by a broad silk ribbon is
bound to the Academy OF the Fine Arts to
censure the way Mr. Sargent has creased
John ID. Rockefelers trousers and Will come
back bursting with Indignation to denouncc
the portrait "a mere chrome We ourself
hasten to the Reading Terminal 10 meet a
certain pair OF brown eyes that arc spar
King in from Marathon for lunch and mobi-
uzation OF spring millinery. And others are
on to breast the roaring gusts of March
on the golf meads or trundlc baby carriages
on the sunny side OF suburban streets.
DCT there is another diversion for Satur-
- day afternoon that is very dear TO u.s.
and sometimes we are able TO coax Brownie
Wee to agree. That IL TO spend two
tf'ee glorious hours IN the library mulling
over the dictionaries. Talk about chasing a
gofball over the links or following Theda
Bara serpentining through a mile Of ccllu-
lnid. or stalking Tom and Jerry. mystic
ati1nities. from bar to bar along Chestnut
street--what can these eScitements offer
compared to n breathless word-hunt IN the
dictionaries Words--the nohlest quarry OF
the sportsman. To follow their spoor
through the jungles and champaigns of the
English language: TO flush them from their
hiding places in dense thckets of Chaucer
or Spenssr. track them through the noble
aislcs of Shakespeare forest and find them
at last perching Rayly on the branches Of
o. Henry or George AIDE The New oxford
Dictionary, that most splendid monument OF
human scholarship. gives moving pictures Of
words from their first Matching down TO the
time when they soar like eagles in the open
air of today.
NTE KNOW no greater Joy than an after
w noon spent with dear old Dr. Johnson's
dictionary OF the English Language, pub
lished after seven years patient labor In
1865. Probably somewhere In PHILADELPHIA
there Is copy OF the first edition: but the
one we know (at the Mercantile Library is
the revised fourth edition which the doctor
put out in 1875 One can hardly read with
out lump In the throat that noble preface
IN which Doctor johnson rehearses the great
ness ana encouragement Of his task. And
who can read too often his rebuff to the
Earl of Chesterfield, who. having strdiolsIy
neglected to aid the lexicograp pher during the
long years OF his compilation. sought by
beated hattery to associate himself with the
vast achievement? "1s not Patron, my
Lord. one who looks with unconcern ON a
man struggling for life In the water and
when he has reached ground. encumbers him
with helpg And who does not chuckle over
the caustic .humor of the Doctors definitions
OF words that touched his own rugged ca areer?
"Lexicographer: harmless drudge :" book
learned; versed in books or literature; a
term implying some slight contempt" ::
Grub street. n street In London much in
habited by writers of small histories die
tionaries and temporary poems
n HENRY was a great devotee of word
", beagling In dictionaries and his whlm-
steal review Of Webster deserves to be
better known
we find on our table quite an exhaustive
treatise on various subjects written In Mr.
Nebster's well-known, lucid and piauant
style. There is not a dull line between tho
covers of the book. The range of subjects
is wide. and the treatment light and easy
without being flippant A valuable feature
OF the work Is the arranging of the articles
in alphabetical order. thus facilitating the
finding of any particular word desired Mr.,
Webster's vocabulary is large. and he always
uses the right word in the right place. Mr..
Websters work is thorough. and we predict
that he will be heard from again"
MTHAT eShilaration can Theda Bara or
w the nineteenth putting green offer COM
pared to the bliss of pursuing through a
thousand dictionary pages some Wild Word
We Have Known and occasionally discoy-
ering an unfamiliar creature of strange and
dazzling pumage?