224 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



of the difficulties with which his lexico- 

 grapher will have to contend ; for interjec- 

 tions, as all students of foreign tongues 

 know, are among the hardest words to ren- 

 der from one language to another. A literal 

 translation is liable to convey almost no 

 meaning. When a Spaniard grows red in 

 the face and vociferates, " Jesus, Maria y 

 Jose ! " he is not thinking of the holy family, 

 but in all likelihood of something very, very 

 different ; and when a devout New England 

 deacon hears some surprising piece of news, 

 and responds with " My conscience ! " he is 

 not thinking at all of the voice of God in 

 the soul of man. Such phrases and the 

 jay language, I feel sure, is full of them 

 are not so much expressions of thought as 

 vents for feeling. You may call them safety- 

 valves. Emotion is like steam. If you stop 

 the nose of the tea-kettle, off goes the cover. 

 The hotter the blood, of course, the more 

 need for such exclamatory outlets ; and the 

 jay, unless his behavior belies him, is Span- 

 iard, Italian, and Frenchman all in one. I 

 pity his lexicographer if he undertakes to 

 render all his subject's emotions in prim lit- 



