214 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



Stripes provoke the most enthusiastic cheers when- 

 ever they are unfurled. According to the Western 

 Press, this is cupboard love. John Bull is por- 

 trayed as Iscariot betraying Brother Jonathan with 

 a kiss. But let it be noted that I am not speaking 

 of English statesmen who may or may not have an 

 axe to grind. I am speaking of the masses, who 

 do not care a rush about politics, but who do 

 honestly profess a kindly affection for a great nation 

 speaking a common tongue.^ 



In conclusion I wish to say on behalf of the 

 Western Press that it is only partly responsible 

 for a condition of affairs which may be illumined 

 by light from within rather than from without. 

 Newspapers are printed to make money ; and that 



1 Mau y Englishmen are distressed at the difference between our 

 tongue and the lingua Americana. Uncle Sam cuts the " u " out of 

 favour. Why does he add an " e " to whisky? Is it not better 

 straight? Again, in America latinised words are pronounced 

 (very properly) in accordance with the continental pronunciation 

 of Latin. Westerners say " tonsileetis," not tonsilitis. Why then 

 do they pronounce the word we call quineen — quinine? Such 

 " cussedness " baffles the pliilologist. The vowels we shorten are 

 broadened in the West, and vice versa. The native son lends a 

 richness to the " o " in coffee seldom found in the drink. A cow- 

 boy grins and jeers if you pronounce " calf " according to the rule 

 laid down in the Century Dictionary. 



The use of the letter " r " jars upon ears proof against twang 

 and drawl ; for twang and drawl are in a sense distinctive of the 

 nation, although they may annoy a sensitive British ear at first ; 

 but the burr of the " r " (in such words as dinner — dear — your — 

 Artliur) is the peculiar heritage of the lower class in England. A 

 lady of quality may speak through her nose ; a sprig of nobility 

 drawls his vowels; but you never hear the plebeian "r" in an 

 English drawing-room except from the moutli of a servant, or from 

 a guest whose claims to recognition are other tlian those of birth. 

 In fine, the " r " is a gutter-bred consonant, and will remain 

 anathema so long as distinctions of caste exist in England. 



