Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1898 — SPEAK WITH THE HEART. [ARTICLE]

SPEAK WITH THE HEART.

Only Recourse of Porto. Ricans Until They Learn Our Language. It is amusing to watch the natives of Forto Rico trying to adapt themselves to their new conditions. One symptom is the appearance of the teacher of English who calls himself a “professor of linguistic.” He is usually a good Spanish scholar with a fair knowledge of literary English and ludicrous unfamiliarity with our colloquial speech. One of the professors asked to be “produced to the lady and gentleman Americanos.” Another at a social gathering said “he had took inexpressed charm in allowed participating in the disgustion so felicitous.” A third astonished us by referring to the “lady-madams-misses,” meaning thereby the female guests in the residence. One enterprising merchant carried around with him an AngloSpanish handbook, and with a diplomatic ingenuity made every American he knew his instructor. Of each he would ask the pronunciation of one sentence, and, after repeating it several times, would thank the informant very effusively and then trot away to the next acquaintance for another exercise. I never knew how hard our language was until yesterday, when an old Spanish gentleman who spoke very fair English came to me with a copy of Dickens* sketches, and pointed out what a nightmare to him was the little word “rowHe said: “This is a brutal word, this person rows a boat and lives in a row of houses on Primrose row, where she has a row with other people, who also row boats, live in a row, and have rows with still other people. Spanish contains many bad words which puzzle the foreigner, but there is no word in all our language like that row.” The little children are beginning to pick up expressions from the soldiers, many of which it must be confessed are not over polite. One little coffee-colored cherub with a maximum of ivory teeth and a minimum of clothing took particular joy in addressing every man and woman: ‘‘Halloo, Yankee gentleman,” and was looked up to by his youthful comrades as a marvel of learning. In every one of the towns and cities English classes have been already established, and I was gravely informed by a patriotic Porto Rican that within two years every one of his people would speak English with the mouth as they now did with the heart. —Cleveland Leader.