1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



45 



Mr. Darriiigtoi), "ijovverful uateral. But 

 I must go aiKl tidy up a bit, for I ain't flc 

 to bo seen . ' ' 



lu a ciazed sort of way he left the room, 

 but when he returned shortly after, dressed 

 in his very best suit, he was as bright and 

 gay as any one pitsent. 



He entered with all his heart into the 

 merrynialiing of the evening, only stop- 

 ping now and tlicu to wonder how the 

 women folks had dared defy him go boldly. 



John and his folks had arrived and were 

 joining in the general hilarity wlien Joe 

 Darrington entered the parlor the second 

 time, but he would not have lost his 

 equanimity now had Queen Victoria been 

 announced. 



It was only when the neighbors had de- 

 parted, leaving the brothers and their 

 families together, that he gave utterance 

 to any thought on the subject. Then he 

 said playfully, 'Sorter sly of you, John, 

 not to mention this morning that you was 

 comin up. " 



'Why, I Jiadn't got no inwitethen." 



"What do you mean, father?" asked 

 Kate, opening her blue eyes wide in sur- 

 prise, ■ didn't you invite Uncle John?" 



"What uniler the canopy do you mean?" 

 asked Mr. Darrington in astonishment. 



"Why, yes, you did, father," said Kate. 

 "You sent us a note telling us to invite all 

 the neighbors." 



"I didn't do nothin of the kind onless 

 my mentallity wtis wandcrin. " 



Kate straight v>ay brought the paper and 

 handed it to her father. "There is the 

 note you sent us with the groceries." 



"I didn't i)ut up the groceries, and I'm 

 Innercent of the writin on that paper," he 

 laid, altcir he had read the invitation 



Tlien Uncle John examined tlie paper, 

 but no sooner hi. d he glanced at thewuriis 

 than he burst into such a fit of laughter 

 that ho was unable to speak for several 

 seconds When at last he found his voice 

 he said: 



"I writ that myself last week. I had 

 sech a cold that I couldn't talk, and I got 

 into tlie haljit of speakin to the folks on 

 paper One afternoon I felt like havin a 

 leetle comijany, and I asked Mary to ^et 

 ready for folks that night I writ them 

 woros to her in iLc; store, and I s'pose the 

 man never noticed them when he put the 

 paper on the groc'ries ' 



Joe Darrington smiled grimly. "I see 

 — a mistake all around VVaal, I'm not 

 sorry we had the settin, and — I say, it's 

 onnec'sary to let this thing get to the 

 neighbors We ouglit to have more com- 

 p'ny, and we v.iil I want t! e women 

 folks to go around more too Tmy're not 

 to be ashani( d of \\\ ( ii they '.re dre.'^sed up 

 right smart " — Chicago News 



VOWELS AND CONSONANTS. 



A Close I..ook Into the Way They Are 

 Formed and Used, 



A. Mellville Bell of Washington, in 

 his note ou "Syllabic Consonants, " read 

 at the second session of the American 

 Oriental society in this city, said: 



"What is is a vowel? What is a con- 

 sonant? What is a syllable? 



"A vowel is defined as a nonfriction- 

 b1 emission of the voice or of uuvocal- 

 jzed breath through an oral channel, 

 with momentarily fixed configuration. 

 Vowels therefore run smoothly into one 

 another by merely altering the shape of 

 the oral passage without interrupting it. 



"A consonant is defined as an inter- 

 ception of the breath or voice by oral 

 stoppage, or by emission through side 

 Ihanuels or through narrow chinks. 

 The change from one consonant to an- 

 other thus involves a motion of the ar- 

 ticulating organs, producing, with more 

 or less audibility, a puft', a flap or a sib- 

 iliatiou. 



"The two classes of elements meet in 

 ee, y, oo, w. A syllable is any vocal 

 element uttered with a single impulse 

 of voice. All the vocal elements in a 

 syllable must be clustered together with- 

 out admixture with nonvocals, but any 

 number of nonvocals may precede or 

 follow the vocal cluster without affect- 

 ing the syllabic unity. 



"The consonants 1, m, n, when they 

 are final after consonants, frequently 

 form syllables without vowels, as in 

 bottle. 



"The test of good pronunciation is 

 to give each syllable its own distinct 

 sound, so that in the most rapid utter- 

 ance the ear can trace the boundaries 

 of every syllable. But the syllable 

 sounds must be true to customary pro- 

 nunciation. 



"The name consonant, if held to im- 

 ply an element that cannot b e pro- 

 nounced without a sonant or vowel, 

 would be a misnomer, and its use 

 should in that case be discontinued in 

 scientific menology. Vowels are the 

 soft and plastic substance of speech. 

 Consonants are the articulations or 

 joints on which vowels and syllables 

 turn. Their proper name is, therefore, 

 'articulations, ' not consonants. 



"Phonetic elements' make syllables. 

 Syllables make words. Words are to be 



