Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-20
Funk 6 Wagnalls' Interesting
Collection of Short Stories

jTHERE are few more interesting re-
\ laxations than that to be found in
reading the dictionary. I have known
writing men who amused themselves
every day by spending ten or fifteen
minutes browsing through such book.
They thus learned new words and new
shades OF meaning to words with which
they were already familiar. One man Of
my acquaintance has been known to find
new and strange word in this way,
and then to write an article for the ex.
press purpose of using his latest acqui-
sition. But the discreet writer usually
resists the temptation to use word the
meaning Of which is not generally
known. The temptation, however, Is
sometimes too strong to resist. The
young author Of novel which I have
just been reading found himself too
weak to refrain from writing of the
aquiline nose of one of his characters
which gave indication In its curve Of
nOstril of that remorseless. accipitrine
WILL" had to 60 to the dictionary to
learn what "accipitrine" means, and
discovered that 1t fitted perfectly into
the context; but as also discovered
that there is word known to every
one which has the same meaning. was
irritatcd by the pedantry of the novelist
who avoided its use.
The man rho pritcs for the
general public ought to confnc him
self to those Uords which every onc
understands as Bunydn did in his
great alle0orU.
DUT this is getting too far away from
1.-the dictionary, the subject about
which began to write. The dictionary
Is one of the Oldest forms Of literature
of which we have any knowledge. or
course, there were written books before
there were dictionaries to explain the
meaning of words. But several hum
drNl years before the Christian era
there was n photographer living on the
Mesopotaminn plains who wrote dc
tionary on baked bricks, some Of which
have been dug up and read. No one
knows how many dictionaries preceded
this one nor how many have succeeded
it. But it Is morally certain that some
! contemporary, after looking at o few
of the bricks, remarked that 1t was most
unsatisfactory reading, for rs soon as
] he got interested in one story 1t ended
and he hal to start on something else.
One, of the most satisfactory small
dictionaries of which have any knowl-
edge Is Larousse's "Classical Ency-
clopedic Dictionary" published IN
| Paris. 1t is one volume abridg-
ment of a larger dictionary In several
| volumes. Yet 1t has served me time
after time when I have failed to find
what was searching for in the un-
abridged American dictionaries and in
| the encyclopedias. The nearest ap-
proach to the completeness of this work
of French photographers that l have
seen is Funk & Wagnalls' college
Standard Dictionary" which has just
been published. Its Introduction Is
dated April 6, and the encyclopedia in
formation it contains comes down to
so recent time as the Washington
Conference OF, last winter. -a.3 .. p,
As in the larger book Of which 1t is
an abridgment, it is a gazetteer and
biographical dictionary, as well rs n
dictionary of words Names, places
and words appear all together in alpha
betical arrangement, with ''grosbeak, I"
the bird, following "Gros, Antoine
Jean, Baron" French painter. Under
"war" there is table showing the ma
tions at war with Germany and the
date when they declared war. There
| are brief biographical data about all
the military leaders under their names.
There are all the new words which
have come into use in recent years, In
Guiding "vitamin" and "barrage" and
"hangar."
In addition to being a dictionary
and 0asetter it is book of svn-
onvms and guide to the use OF
propositions.
TT EXPLAINS under the word
i differ" that objects differ from one
another in physical characteristics and
that men differ with one another in
matters of opinion, and under differ