Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1908 — Effect of an "H.” [ARTICLE]

Effect of an "H.”

A cockney whose name ,was Ogton, which he, following the usage of his class, pronounced Hogtown, settled at the beginning of the last century in the city of New York, where he did business as a trader. His prefixing of the “h” was the occasion of a postoffice story which Dunlap, the author of the “History of the Arts of Design,” tells. Before the clerks of the postoffiee knew Ogton he called day after day to inquire if, there were “any letters for John Hogtown.” - “None, sir,” was the invariable answer. “Very strange,” said be, feeling uneasy about the goods he had ordered from Euglanil and the bills of exchange he had remitted. One day after the usual question, “Any letters for John Hogtown?'' his eye. following the clerk, noticed that he was looking among the letters beginning With H. “ ’Olio!” cried he. “What are you looking there for? I said John Hogtown.” “I know it, sir, and I am looking for John Hogtown, and there’s nothing for you.” “Nay, nay!” shouted John. “Don’t look among the haltches. Look among the hoes.” And among the O’s We-re found a pile of letters addressed to John Ogton, which had been accumulating for many a week.