Mend Your Speech [antikvár]

INTRODUCTÍON ' Words that are correctly spoken or written are frequently the paving-stones of the highway to sociai advancement and commercial success, But each stone must fit by the side of its neighbor, if one is to attain that level which forma the smooth sentence. Evén as there are "misfits" in paving-stones, so alsó are there "misfits" in words. Ehglish spoken and written correctly is a desideratum in every walk of life. The business man whose speech does not rise above the quality of "I beat him to it"; "He süpped one over on me"; "They couldn't deliver the goods," i.eperform their promises; who "chews the rag" about "such a business" "sounding good to him"; who believes that he "said a mouthful" when he acquiesced with an "FII say so," is calculated to "jar you" and is one who is not likely to rise himself. Likewise, the woman of the "awfully nice" class, who adores lobster, wants it the worst way, but is not stuck on the placc and would rather go somé place else where the eais are better, might pass for a woman of refinement if she could keep her mouth shut until she had learned to say correctly what she has to say. There is alsó her companion, given to extravagances of speech as weil as of dress that are exasperating for their exaggeration-the woman whose least malaise is an "agony"; to whom every slight mishap is "a fearful accident"; whose latest gown is "simply adorable," and whose favorité of the opposite sex is " awfully jolly." These are women who have such "an elegant time" that one might be forgiven for wishing, in all charity, that they might "die laughing," before they attained their ambition to rise in* society. Such expressions as "He done it," "I seen it/* "Them things," "You was," are heard on every