Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-27
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
o Tempora, o Mores, Not to Mention
the O'kelIys and Some other
Things-Reminiscen
and Reflections
BY SARAH ID. LOwRIE

BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE
TNIIE man in our midst was reading bits
L from the Sunday paper suited to our
intellect this morning and delighted us with
his original pronunciation of CaillauXs
name. lie was corrected, but remained un
abashcd, remarking that If he gave our
version of the pronunciation downtown, no
one would know of whom he spoke.
So many French names have been lost in
this country, even to the families that once
possessed them, because the rules for the
pronouncihg of them have never been written
down. One generation ago some French
Canadians came down to lumber in the
AdirondaCks and lost their namc--sO far
as the spelling went-with the death of the
father of the family. They are now known
as Kelly, and spelled as Kelly, though
how nearly phonctiCally accurate that sound
may be even they do not know.
here could be no rules for the pronun-
citation of certain English names.
The man we call Knollys rhymes with
rolls, Cholmondcley with dumby ST. John
with injun Wcmyss with dreams st. Maur
with more; Ruthven with driven; Pole
tarew with Mary: Sandys with sands;
Greenwich with spinach" "
Tn NEW ENGLAND Cowles is pro-
nounccd like Coles. In PENNSYLVANIA the
Scotch name Laurie is pronounced Lorry,
and in order TO get 1t pronounced approx
matcly correctly it has to be spelled Lowric
In New England it has to be changed back
to Laurie or it will be pronounced to rhyme
with low.
In Connecticut and Massachusetts they
pronounced the name Sarah as though It
were Say -ra. In tho South the name would
be almost Iara; here the ca is the same
as in mir.
1t is bad enough to have ones name
spelled wrong. but it is disintcgrating to
have il pronounced wrong. so it is small
wonder our forrfathers altered the spelling
OF their names to suit the local prOnuncia-
tion. II is too bad that nowadays we can
not follow their example when we move to
another state and are up against local
prejudice. But, as G. Wells remarks:
1.-THE tlinE thimFs yo" drank were doubtless
I!ut the boy YOU spank is never spunk.
Nor the friend you thank is never thunk
The verse you write you say is written I" =
Yet the gas you light was never litten."
TIlERE are certain things that cannot be
l. done,
feel that driving in the park in a VIC
toria will soon be one Of Them Not long
ago my father and | went forth to get
the air in pleasant one that had perhaps
seen better days but was still rather
elegant. As we crossed the river by one
of the upper bridges lot of little boys who
were returning from football stood wide
eyed and looked us over. The wit among
them struck an awe struck attitude: "Ilaw.
ilaw Fellows Columbus discovering Amer
ica. was his comment.
My father, whose first journey had been
in a canal boat coming on from Pittsburgh
and who will not be wholly satisfied until
h" has gon" back in a flying machine. was
perfectly amazed to find a victoria "datcd''
until he remembered that his own grand
chlldrCn mad found hOrSCCarS very quaint.
The truth of the matter is that except for
Rolnnn chAri0tS and littrrS every sort of
v"hir" tn" world has used had been fashion
able and then dated in his day to the present
era of motors and flying, machines. Society
has changed its way of getting about ten
times "tt"n"r in the last eighty years than
in the previous 2OOO years.
TO REPRODUCE the family life of eighty
L years ago one must eliminate all present
modes of lighting. heating. cooking. travel
ing. working. communicating at Il distance.
modern shopping. modern offices. hours Of
business. hours of meals. vacations, types
"f schools. types of physicians. nursing the
sick. care of children. treatment of depend
"ntS. all talk of ja2z. vi"tr"aS. golf squash.
basketball. tennis. present day football and
baseball. moving pictures, vaudeville most
forms of dancing. fresh fruit and vegetables
in winter. "atabl"s out of season in summer.
all machinery from sewing machines to
steam p.0wS-i in fact. to write "A novel of the
year 1880 to 1910. YOU would have to forget
nearly all the ordinary phenomena of living
and much Of tn" vocabulary.
The wonder is that persons who were at
hom" in tn" world of $40 can adjust them
selves to this world of 1920 with no par
tiCular sense of outrage. | was talking to
Mrs. Gcorg" Parrish and her sister. Mrs.
William Hunt. who ns the Misses Price
belonged to the Victorian world Of 1910 with
the sam" zcSt tlut they belong to this
RooSrycltiau one. 1t takes Mrs. Parrish
less than twenty minutes now in her linou-
sine to cover III" distance between town and
what was in her young lady yhoud the family
country seat, rrmut" from city sounds Now
the streets through which Sh" uaSScS are
crowded and l"v"'. When sh" drove that
way behind her fathers pair in tfc family
curriag" she went through country lanes M
and down hills. across bridges. over streams
that have long been covered up and lost from
tn" map, past country places. Whrrc mills
and t"n"mcut> now stand. Mrs. Hunt told
me that most Of the land between Arch street
and tn" park west of Broad street was n
series of W""d,d slopes. as country rs any
thing beyond devon today. And the land
running paraIl". along tn" river "Irsidr the
park. where rl. Laurel Hill Cemeteries now
are. was remote tUru~ lying h"Iwrrn the
p0pulou~ ri,Iag" Of the Falls Of the Srhuy-
kill and town.
TEIERE ARE still som" monumental char
l. artrrS who will not have furnaces in their
houses and who din" ar . "'rlock very