In these days of change old words go and new words come. Old names disappear with old customs, or acquire new meanings, and new ideas demand new names. With the decline of chivalry, astrology, and archery their vocabularies, being no longer significant, went out of use, only to be succeeded by those of steam and electricity. Words that were familiar a century or two ago are unknown to the present generation. They have become obsolete, for example, wit, wot, and wist, meaning "know," wend for "think," lief for "beloved," comen for "come," sooth for "truly," withsay for "gainsay," enow for "enough," holpen for "help," twain for "two," and anon for "scon," a list taken at random from Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," a work which marks the beginning of modern prose in England. Similar tests may be made from any of the writings of two centuries ago. Present use prohibits the employment of obsolete words, or words used in an obsolete sense, except in poetry or in the historical novel, and inexperienced writers should carefully avoid using them to affect a literary style.

It is impossible to fix accurately the boundaries of present use; but it is safe to assume that any word which is understood by the cultivated people of to-day may be considered as belonging to the present time.

51. National Use. In writing for the people at large it is necessary to employ words which are not only understood, but understood in the same sense in all parts of the country. Evidently we should not use

foreign words and phrases, or expressions common to a locality or a class, for in so doing we narrow Our circle of readers. Common sense, therefore, dictates that we should carefully shun all such words and phrases, and adopt only those words that are in national use as fixed by speakers and writers of national reputation.

I. Local Terms. In whatever part of the country we go we find terms peculiar to that locality. We call them localisms. They are the natural outcome of local experiences and customs, and the number is in proportion to the exclusiveness of the locality. In the days when there was little intercourse between different parts of the country localisms abounded, and new meanings were given to old words, until each locality had a dialect of its own; but with the advent of steam and electricity the people of all sections were brought into closer contact, remote communities became neighbors, books, magazines, and newspapers penetrated the farthest corners of the land, and dialects and localisms to a great extent gave way to a settled national language. Some localisms still remain, and in remote districts flourish. To what extent this is true may be appreciated by comparing the two selections that follow, the first illustrating the speech of the New England Yankee, and the second that of a Tennessee mountaineer.

"I seen this dog a haʼntin' round on the dike a good while 'fore you come," said Mar Baker. "I should er give him some ole vittles, only all our scraps go to the hens.

I've always thought he might b'long to a carry-all of fine folks as come ridin' by a week or so 'fore you brought your things down. I can't tell why I took that notion, but I did, and 'Zias thought the same. But then there's a good many high-flyers travellin' about to see the Webster place an' so on.'

"I war a-black berryin, thar bein' only a few lef' yit, an I went fur an' furder yit from home; an' ez I kem out'n the woods over yon, I viewed or yit I 'lowed I viewed the witch-face through a bunch o' honey locust, the leaves bein' drapped a' ready, they bein' always the fust o' the year git bare. An' stiddin leavin' it ter be, I sot my bucket o' berries at the foot o' a tree, an' started down the slope todes the bluff, ter make sure an' view it clar o' the trees."1

CHARLES EGBERT CRADDOCK: The Witch Face.

We need not, however, go to remote districts for our localisms; we find them to some extent everywhere. The New Englander guesses when he thinks, the Southerner reckons; the former perks up, and has a pesky horse, he senses things when he understands them; he hires a team, while the Westerner hires a rig. The tin pail of the East becomes the bucket as we go West, and in like manner a quarter of a dollar passes current as two bits, and so on. We should not, perhaps, expect to keep our speech or writing altogether free from local terms, but we should confine ourselves, as far as possible, to words of national use.

2. Technical Terms. — Just as all sections have their localisms, so all trades, professions, and classes have

1 By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

their peculiar terms, which, in the main, are unintelligible to the public at large. Such, for example, are the numerous yachting terms, fore and aft, starboard, luff, jibe, tack, and countless others. A lawyer's brief with its legal phrases, or a physician's report of a case, conveys no impression to the majority of us, and the newspaper account of a base-ball or a golf game is almost as obscure to the ordinary reader as it would be if written in a foreign language. The use of technical terms is permissible when one is writing for people who understand them, but in ordinary expression they should be used very sparingly.

3. English and American Terms. — The English and the American people have a common heritage in a common language. They live in great part a common life, are actuated by like ideals, and distinguished by like characteristics. Nevertheless, so different are the customs of the two people that minor differences in language are bound to arise. Such is the case. The Englishman knows nothing of motor-man, lobby, stampede, or cablecar, while the American is equally ignorant of stoker, luggage-van, or fishmonger. In England an elevator becomes a lift, a druggist is known as a chemist, and a pitcher is a jug. The question of whether or not we should use Americanisms or Anglicisms is one of no great consequence. In the few cases where we are called upon to decide, it is safe to say, that, as Americans, we should use the word that is in national use in

our own country, otherwise we might be unintelligible to our neighbors and open to the charge of affectation.

52. Reputable Use. We have only to glance at the newspapers of to-day to find many words, which, though they are undoubtedly understood by the majority of readers, lack the stamp of approval from our best writers and speakers. They are in present, and perhaps in national use; but they are not in gocd use, because they are not in reputable use. The fault of employing obsolete, local, or technical terms is not to be compared with that of adopting words which are common in the papers and speech of the day, and which bear the marks of illiteracy. "No invite for Hart"; "The Bostons had a cinch on the game"; "The story is a fake"; "The Chinese are bluffing," are a few of the expressions found in a recent edition of a daily newspaper. Their use cannot be too strongly condemned. We should be careful that all our words are in good repute; for reputable use is the most important requisite of good use, and is fixed by speakers and writers of established reputation.

The use of a word by one author only is not sufficient to make it reputable. In vain Charles Sumner pleaded for annexion instead of annexation, and Abraham Lincoln wrote abolishment for abolition. A word is in reputable use only when a number of representative writers and speakers find it a necessary adjunct to their vocabulary. It is thus that our language grows, and new words come into use. Most of them die a