Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1901 — Page 3

In the Slang Foundry

The Society of Amateur Philologists, the members of which are devoted to the study of language, has gravely decided that if it were not for the additions made from time to time by Americans, English would have to be classed as a dead or at least as a rapidly dying language. From this country, however, come

HE HAS A “CINCH” ON THE MULE.

.so many apt and novel phrases which are Incorporated into the body of the English tongue that it is sfill alive and growing. And both in the United States arid abroad beginning to recognize the importance and the value of words and phrases which start as slang, and, because they vividly describe some prevailing condition, gradually find their way into the standard dictionaries. The English society mourns because most all the slang which is found worthy of permanent adpption originates in the “States.” But it is proud of the "fact that in England has originated at least one popular phrase which has not found its way into this country, and which, if one may venture an opinion, is never likely to dcf bo. The ne'w English phrase is “twencent,” and it is used to describe anything which is extremely “up to date!” It is, of course" an abbreviation of twentieth century, and in the English eye is a remarkable example of condensation and wit. Both the philologists of London and American authorities agree in the opinion that comparatively little slang of the sort which endures and becomes part of the language originates in large cities. Nor is it used first by educated and refined people. The socalled "educated classes” add little to a language except some stilted words which are borrowed from the classics or scientific terms which are also likely to be derived from one of the dead languages. It is the men on the farm, on western ranches, in gold and silver mines, and in other similar occupations who give the languages its vitality and growth. Thus the men who pack mules and horses for the trail over the mountains and plains .of the great west put a tight “cinch” on many a “critter” bpfore the general public began to talk

WHERE “BOOM” CAME FROM.

familiarly of "getting: a cinch” on any proposition in which it was interested. The lumbermen in the great woods of Wisconsin and the northwest piled up many millions of logs in booms and watched the logs go tearing down the swift little rivers after the “boom was basted” for many years before the stock brokers and real estate agents adopted their phraseology. Now there are few people indeed who do not know what a “boom” is and what is likely to happen wnen a “boom is busted.” Speaking broadly, there are two kinds of slang. One depends for its popularity on the mere fact that the phrase is mouth-filling and pleases the popular fancy. Such slang is likely to have only a temporary popularity. The slang which lives and which soon•r or later becomes a permanent part of the language Is that which really means something, which describes some fact condition in a new and ▼lvid way. There are many people who are greatly Impressed by the sound at any phrase the meaning at

which they do not understand. It was this feeling which proved so effective when Dr. Samuel Johnson was vocally attacked by one of the famous fishwives of Billingsgate. Dr. Johnson knew that it would be Idle and useless to answer the woman in kind, even if he had been willing to lower his dignity to that extent. At the same time be did not wish to listen to more of her abuse. Accordingly he pointed the finger of scorn at her and exclaimed in a voice of indignation and contempt: “Madam, you are an isosceles triangle, a parallclopipedon, an octagonal rhombiod.” The fishwife was totally overcome and was unable to answer the doctor’s scathing denunciation, but It is not recorded that the use of mathematical terms has ever become popular in the vocabulary of Billingsgate. Another kind of slang which has a merely temporary popularity is that which exaggerates an already slang expression and carries it beyond the point of absurdity. Two street arabs, for instance, may be quarreling in the gutter. “G’wan,” says the first; “you’ve got a wheel in yere head.” “Rats!” says the other. “Yere nut is a reg’ler bicycle factory..” Most people know what is meant

“MADAM, YOU ARE A PARALLELOPIPEDON.”

when a man is said to have “a wheel in his head,” but the bicycle factory joke carries it a point beyond permanent appreciation. The only class of highly educated people who contribute to any extent to the growth of the language is the college students. College slang" is so vivid and has been so generally adopted that a dictionary has been issued which is entirely devoted to the subject. It was at a college boarding club for instance that a student who wanted the small milk pitcher asked a companion to “drive the heifer this way.” Prom terms originally used in college games the language has adopted many useful phrases. It is not many years since the first curved ball was pitched in a baseball game, and yet the current phrase “I am onto his curves” has a meaning entirely without connection with the baseball diamond. From the field sports of collegians have come the phrases to “jump on” a man and to “jump on him with both feet.” Even the great American game of draw poker, which will not be claimed as a college game exclusively, has added several cotamon phrases to the languages. Many a man who has never tried to “fill two pair” has “called a ( bluff” or declared that he would “go it blind.” It was a farmer’s boy who had touched his tongue to the iron pump handle on a below-zero morning who discovered that “to freeze to” a person expressed a strong degree of attachment. The expressions "to get a

“G’WAN, YOU GOT WHEELS IN YERE HEAD.” “YERE HEAD IS A REGALER BICYCLE FACTORY.”

load on” and “to carry a load” are plainly of country extraction and need no explanation. “A jag” Is a provincialism Which means a little load, so that to say a man has "a big jag on" Is a contradction In terms. “Jag” Is one of the American expressions whleh

has hardly reached England as yet, if one may judge from the cxpresi’on of a recent author, who defined a “jag” as an umbrella, and quoted as authority a paragraph from a St. Louis paper which announced that “Mr. Brown was seen on the street last Sunday morning in the rain, carrying a fine, large jag.” It was a Chicago humorist who declared that a man of his acquaintance was sometimes entirely sober, though he did “jump from jag to jag like an alcoholic chamois.” Almost every business and profession has given the moat picturesque words in its particular vocabulary to enrich the language. From the stock exchange, for instance, come “bulls” and “bears,” a “corner,” and “margins,” though these words were originally borrowed and given new meanings by the stock brokers.

Mrs. Papa and Her Paper.

Mrs. Dano Papa, widow of the late Italian republican journalist of Milan, is now living in Paris,' France. Mrs. Papa is an American woman, and, when her husband’s paper, Italia del Popolo, was suppressed by the government on account of its liberal thought, she brought out two editions in the city of New York to demonstrate that the paper was not dead. At the time of the New York editions all the editors and contributors were either in solitary confinement as prisoners or in exile. Mrs. Papa is thoroughly familiar with the political situation in Italy, and, while her opinion may be influenced somewhat by her advanced thought, she states that Italy has just passed through a crisis of which the other powers are comparatively rant. Two republicans were called to the ministry because the opponents of the government had become so strong that it forced a recognition.— Chicago Journal.

THIS MACHINE SCRUBS FLOORS

If the machine that a Chicago genius has invented doe£ what the inventor believes it will, the days of scrubbing drudgery are numbered. The novelty runs on wheels and is propelled by handles adjusted similarly to those on a garden cultivator. It is said to scrub, rinse and dry the floor in one motion. “You fill .the box in the upper part

SCRUBBING MACHINE.

of the machine,” said the inventor to a Chicago reporter the other day, “using clean, warm soap water. By opening a small valve the necessary amount of water is allowed to spread on the floor. When the machine is set in motion the scrubbing begins. The brush revolves and the two rollers, covered with cloth of a suitable nature! rinse and wipe. The waste water is conveyed to a tin box on the under side of the machine. This can be emptied at will.” The machine is 10 inches high, 10 inches wide and 20 inches long. It is especially designed for large floors.

England's Most Serious Problem.

The popular illusions respecting the seriousness of the Boer war were naturally accompanied by miscalculations as to its cost. Just before the war broke out, Mr. Stead’s prediction that “we shall get off cheaply if it does not cost us tnore than 10,000 lives and £20,000,000” was considered as ridiculous as his other warnings. But some time ago the bill already exceeded £100,000,000, while a moderate estimate of the present cost puts it at £2,000,000 a week. As to casualties, the official returns up to the end of December reported 51,687, including 12,158 deathsh- It is by this time clear that in his speech at Carnarvon Oct. 6, 1899, John Morley made the right retort to the sneer that he was a Cassandra. “Cassandra’s prophecies,” he replied, “happened to come true.”— The Forum.

Queer Business in Turkey.

The sultan of Turkey has given instructions to the police of Constantinople that they are to stop the fires, which have become much too frequent lately. The police have thought the matter over and have come to the conclusion that fires are the result of insurance, and therefore insurance must be stopped. With this object they go round from house to house in the poorer quarters and tell the unfortunate householder that unless the next day he brings a letter from the company annulling his insurance he will be put in prison. The result is that many of them are begging the companies to cancel their insurances. The police offer, as an alternative, to accept a guarantee of several thousand pounds that no fire will break out in the house In question, or nmj of the nix adjoining ones.

OF MOHAWK INDIANS.

TO HAVE NEWSPAPER IN THEIR OWN TONGUE. The Editor la the Son es a Mohawk (Thief Who Wat Educated at Gorerament Schools—Specimen Paragraph from the Paper. The Mohawks of Canada and New York state are to have a newspaper. It will he edited by Charles A. Cooke, a full-blooded Indian employed In the department of Indian affairs at Ottawa, says an Ottawa correspondent of the New York Srin. Some time ago Cooke began publishing the Onkweonwe, a semi-monthly magazine, printed in the Mohawk language, and it was so successful that he has decided to turn it into a newspaper, the first of its kind in Canada and the second In America. There are other Indian publications not newspapers, but the ma% Jority of them are issued by missionary societies and they are edited by white men. The Cherokee Advocate, published in Indian Territory, is the only other Indian newspaper in North America. The Onkweonwe will publish some'telegraphic news from different parts of the world, market news and reports of prices of fttrs, skins, fish, etc., and will have an inquiry department, which will be one of its leading features. Editor Cooke is the son of a Mohowk chief and was educated at government schools and afterward took a course iri a Canadian college. When he had been graduated he got a clerkship in the Indian department. He is a dark-skinned young man, with pronounced Indian features. He is a good singer and is a member of the choir of the leading Methodist church in Ottawa. Two other Mohawk Indians, Miss Maracle and Joseph Delisle, are employed in the same room with Mr. Cooke. All are well educated. Few of the Indians oan read English, but about 10,000 are able to read anything printed in the Mohawk dialect. The Mohawk alphabet consists of twelve letters and n and k are used much oftener than any of the others. An ordinary eight-page issue of the Onkweonwe contains about onequarter n’s and k’s. For this reason the editor has had some difficulty in getting his copy set up, as the printer soon runs out of n’s and k’s. English characters are used. Here is a specimen paragraph from the Onkweonwe: “KONO'NKWE AOTIRIWASONHA. “lakonnewata iaiakoseke enska netens teken ‘minit’ jlnikariwes ononwarejerakerike tionekonties enska me jiaiaiaksera tenwatiaseren senah jiienwakatsteke jieniontste.” When the Onkweonwe came out first many of the old cheifs objected to it. “The great Spirit, Gitchee Manitou the Mighty, says good Indians never read newspapers,” said they to tlie younger braves, but the paper became popular. Indians like to hear about the doings of the white men. When Editor Cooke started the paper he published incidents about the Indians, and soon letters were sent to him from his fellow braves saying, “Stop publishing news about the Indians; tell us about Laurier and others.” They did not object to the name Onkweonwe, which means in the Mohawk tongue, “the only human being,” or “the real human being,” in contradistinction to others who are looked upon as being less worthy of the name of man, or as lacking in qualities of manhood. “Onkwe” means a human being and would be applied to a paleface or to an Indian of another tribe. The addition of “onwe” is Mohawk for “the real thing.” The Mohawks are inquisitive. Among the questions Editor Cooke has had to answer are the following: “Why does the government try to control Indians?” “What is electricity?” “Who was Papineau? and what did he do?” “What is an Indian?” To the last question Mr. Cooke answered “An Indian is an Indian who has native blood in his veins, and who is on the reserved lands under the protection of the government.” The Onkweonwe recently published the following story about an Indian living near Eganville, not many miles from Ottawa: “Indian John, a celebrated Mohawk guide, who is now 80 years old, has been sleeping in his coffin for some months. John, although still a vigorous man, knows that he must soon leave for the happy hunting grounds, so some time ago he made himself a coffin and began sleeping in it. Since then he has used no other bed, and he has told his family that If death comes to him while he is lying in his coffin they are to put on the lid and bury him. Until the call comes John will continue to hunt in the land of the Mississaugus.

Odd Sizes in Envelopes.

German postmasters have been so annoyed by eccentricities in the shapes and sizes of the envelopes inclosing mail matter that a bill is to be introduced in the Reichstag prescribing the size and shape of envelopes. The chief annoyance is the delay in stamping the letters with postmark and canceling stamps, for these Odd-shaped and odd-sized missives will not pass through the stamping machine In such a way as to receive th% Itamp properly, and have to be gone over again by hand.

A Gigantic Knitting Proposition.

The information of the large size ■»f the government budget, which the members of Lord Salisbury’s cabinet are Imparting to the Britons as gently as possible, indicates that the Old Lady of Threadneedle street will have to do a little extra knitting.—Baltimore Herald.

WESTERN CANADA'S DECEMBER WEATHER

Equal to That of May in Minnesota. To the Editor: —Thomas Regan and C. Collins of Eden Valley, Minnesota, went out to Western Canada last December as delegates to look over the grazing and grain lands that are being offered at such low prices and reasonable terms. This is what they say: “Wearrived in Calgary aoout the 20th of December and although we had left winter in Minnesota and Manitoba, we were surprised to find beautiful warm weather at this point, quite equal to what we have in May in Minnesota. There was no snow nor trace of winter to be seen, and the climate was really splendid. Horses, cattle and sheep were running out, in prime condition, with plenty of feed on the prairie, and really better than that of oura stabled in the south. We are impressed with this country as one of the finest mixed farming countries we have ever seen. The immense tracts of fertile lands well sheltered and abundantly watered leave nothing to be desired. “Leaving Alberta we returned east and visited the Yorkton district in Assiniboia. We. drove out about ten miles at this point and were highly pleased with the splendid samples of grain we were able to see—wheat yielding 25 bushels, oats 60 bushels. Roots were also good specimens. From what we have seen, we have decided to throw in our lot with the Yorktoners —satisfied that this part of the country will furnish good opportunities for anyone anxious to make the best of a really good country.” “Any agent of the Canadian government, whose advertisement appears elsewhere in the columns of your paper will give you full particulars of the new districts being opened out this year in Assiniboia and Saskatchewan. Yours truly, Old Reader.

Summer Vacations.

Spend yours this Summer in California. There is no telling when the trip can again be made so cheaply. July 6th to 13th inclusive, Round-Trip Tickets will be sold to San Francisco via the Southern Pacific Company's routes at rates less than the regular one-way fare and will be good for the return until August 31st. These tickets cover first-class passage and will allow holder to stopover at various points of interest en route either going or returning, or both, and can be purchased for passage going via any of the Southern Pacific Company’s three routes, Sunset, Ogden or Shasta, returning the same or either of the others. Through Pullman Palace and Pullman Tourist sleeping cars. For particulars address W. G. Neimyer, G. W. A., S. P. Co., 238 Clark street, Chicago, 111.

French Architecture in Washington.

The French government is to have an official residence in Washington, and it will be a fine one. Nearly two acres of ground have been bought, well located on a high knoll commanding a fine view of the city, and there the famous French architect, Carre, is to design a home for the embassy, which shall be the finest specimen of French architecture on this side of the Atlantic.

Try Grain-O! Try Grain-O!

Ask your Grocer to-day to show you • package of GRAIN-O, the new food drink that takes the place of coffee. The children may drink it without injury as well as the adult. All who try it, like it. GRAIN-O haa that rich seal brown of Mocha or Java, but it is made from pure grains, and the most delicate stomach receives it without distress. % the price of coffee. 15c and JScts. per package Sold by all grocers. Pomades are made of the best and purest fat of the ox, impregnated with anv n»rfume wjjich may be desirable.

I Piles Cured While You Sleep | 0 ou are costive - an d nature is under a constant strain to relieve the condition. This causes a rush of blood to the rectum, and before !jv © ,on S coasted lumps appear, itching, painful, bleeding. Then you have piles. There are many kinds and many cures, but piles are not cura- X © ble unless y° u assist nature in amoving the cause. CASCARETS make effort easy, regulate and soften the stools, relieving the tension, and X © e lvin ß nature a chance t 0 use her heaiin g P ow er. Piles, hemorrhoids, fistula, and other rectal troubles yield to the treatment and Cascarets X © uickl y sureJ y remove them forever Don't be persuaded to experiment with anythin* else! aas Atchison v^lobe. I-of- “I indVrcd the tortures of tbe h). ( M vof da«>ne4 with protruding piles brought on not I } ( WKaKMt -, tn by constipation with which I was afflicted for „ M CO WH > twenty years. I ran across your GASCA- a P» Jr JKt he RETS In the town of Newell, la., and dov m IVJ /mMW mm im Hsl never found anything to equal them. To-day K ] r V mWr kj m lam entirely free from piles and feel like a D ® pa 69 fIH hH MBugM '9 of new man." C. H. Kun. w’ ] C V mKBBB HI 1 Jones St, Sioux City, la e yeu M X Hjm Woman’s L-*>g feiy* | A @ if 1 the TABLET DRUGGISTS I ® grr ll a^ ,^rja.‘ t vT^^.st^rsgi^x^rlai.a! 8 &gg^sHjfflssfeg 8 0 " w “ 4 ~ _ toSvSS j|

A Beal Utopia.

Dunwich, Moretown bay, Queensland, consists of about 1,000 inhabitants. In four years there have been two births and two deaths. There are no streets, no omnibuses or trains, no soldiers, no police, no shops. There is a beautiful theater, and every one is admitted free. Clothes are free and so are food and lodging. Very few do any work, and there are no hotels. Very little money is required, and medical attendance is free. There is a lockup, but that is not used. There is also a postoffice, .and if money is short the letters are stamped free. There is also a free hospital and library.

South Dakota Farms

Is the title of an illustrated booklet just issued by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, descriptive of the country between Aberdeen and the Missouri River, a section heretofore unprovided with railway facilities, but which is now reached by a new line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. Everyone contemplating a change of location will be interested in the information contained in it, and a copy may be had by sending a twocent stamp to F. A. Miller, General Passenger Agent, Chicago, 111.

Measurements of a Meteorite.

The meteorite which fell at Porto Alegre, Brazil, is reported to measure 56 feet on the base and 85 feet in height, most astonishing dimensions. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway has got out a neat booklet descriptive of the beautiful summer resorts at Spirit and Okoboji Lakes in Northwestern lowa. Free copies will be mailed upon application to Jno. G. Farmer, Assistant General Passenger Agent, Cedar Rapids, la. Stettin now numbers 209,988 souls, an (increase in population in five years of 69,264, owing to its position as the seaport of Berlin.

HO! FOR OKLAHOMA!

New lands soon to open. Be ready! Morgan's Manual, with supplementcontaining proclamation,map showing allotments, County seats, etc., sl. Sujfplemeut Jfc Map, 50c. Agents Wanted. DICK T. MORGAN, Perry, O. T. Of all German cities, Nuremberg has increased most within the last five years—about 60 per cent. For weakness, stiffness and soreness in aged people use Wizard Oil. Your* druggist knows this and sells the oil. New brooms sweep clean —and old ones, too, if properly manipulated. FITS Permanently Cured. No fits or nervousness after first day’s use of Dr. Kline’s Great Nerve Restorer. Send for FREE 82.00 trial bottle and treatise. Dr. R. H. Kune, Ltd.. *3l Arch St.. Philadelphia, Pa. Ireland lost 1, 746,000 people by famine during the past century. Piso’s Cure cannot be too highly spoken of aa a cough cure.—J. W. O’Brien, 322 Third Ave., N., Minneapolis, Minn.. Jan. 6. 1900. Logic evidently has legs otherwise it could not stand to reason.

Hall’s Catarrh Cure

Is a constitutional cure. Price, 75c There is many a good -wife that can neither sing nor dance. GOOD DIGESTION MEANS HEALTH Health means beauty. DR. CRANE’S QUAKER TONIC TABLETS produce both. Saw and ax contests are favorite pastimes in Tasmania.

Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup.

For children teething, softens the gums, reduces Inflammation. allays pain, cures wind colic. 23c a bottle. Orange packing in California is done chiefly by women.

Coe’s Cough Balsam

Is the oldest and best- It will break up a cold quicker than anything else. It la always reliable. Try It. Never help a man into trouble; try to help him out. Baseball players; Golf players; all playars chew White’s Yucatan whilst playing. Time, tide and soda water wait for no man.

11allowed Mrs.Pinkham's Advice and Now lam Well.’

: motw * tPx. - il uW 1 lj3jV t■ g A woman is sick—some disease peculiar to her sex is fast developing in her system. She goes to her family physician and tells him a story, but not the whole story. She holds back something, loses her head, becomes agitated, forgets what she wants to say, and finally conceals what she ought to have told, and this completely mystifies the doctor. Is it a wonder, therefore, that the doctor fails to cure the disease ? Still we cannot blame the woman, for it is very embarrassing to detail some of the symptoms of her suffering, even to her family physician. This is the reason why hundreds of thousands of women are now in correspondence with Mrs. Pinkham, at Lynn, Mass. To her they can give every symptom, so that when she is ready to advise them she is in possession of more facts from her correspondence with the patient than the physician can possibly obtain through a personal interview. Following we publish a letter from a woman showing the result of a correspondence with Mrs. Pinkham. All such letters are considered absolutely confidential by Mrs. Pinkham, and are never published in any way or manner without thn consent in writing of the patient; but hundreds of women are so grateful for tne health which Mrs. Pinkham and her medicine have been able to restore to them that they not only consent to publishing their letters, but write asking that this be done in order that other women who suffer may be benefited by their experience. Mrs. Ella Rice, Chelsea, Wis., writes: “ Dear Mbs. Pinkham For two years I was troubled with falling and inflammation of the womb. I suffered very much with bearing-down pains, headache, backache, and was not able to do anything. What 1 endured no one knows but those who have suffered as I did. I could hardly drag myself across the floor. I doctored with the physicians of this town for three months and grew worse instead of better. My husband and friends wished me to write to you, but I had no faith in patent medicines. At last I became so bad that I concluded to ask your advice. I received an answer at once advising me to take your Vegetable Compound, and I did so. Before I had taken two bottles I felt better, and after I had taken five bottles there was no happier woman on earth, for I was well again. I know that your Vegetable Compound cured me, and I wish and advise every woman who suffers as I did to try Lydia E. Pink ham’s Vegetable Compound. Believe me always grateful for the recovery of my health.”- Mas. Ella Rick, Chelsea, Wis. sennn reward I I II I I I deposited with the National City Back, of Lvoo, Mass frs 000, w ■■■■lll which will be paid to any person who will show that toe above IJ IB Ml testimonial is not genuine, or was published before obtaining WW w MW the writer’sspacial permission —Lydia £. PiHKJtAJS Midi cm i Co.

P B C A I Em A tract of good land about ■ r\ On L b lt.ouO acre*, nicely fenced and /ocated near C., R. I. & R. and M., K. & T.R.R. in North Texas. Fine shade and ebelter and the very beet melinite gras* for winter. 2.000 acrea cultivated Good climate and very healthy. Price SIO.OO per No investment can be made any better. Address Box *3l, Henrietta, Texas.

i Do You Want to Know ■ vend lump to 1. T. Urcist. patent atty. no i*u, st!f .H r. . W«-hinKton li C., for I'm- HandtH- kon Piu-ntaJ W. N. u. CHICAGO, NO. 22. 1901. Whei Aasweriag Advertiseaeats Kiadlj Mention His Tsper.