POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



Wundt, that words referring to things or ac- 

 tions in the immediate surrounding of the 

 speaker were shorter than those relating to 

 more distant objects or actions, is confirmed. 

 A few specimen words of various classes are 

 given to illustrate the peculiar nature of some 

 of the names : The word for the proper name of 

 man signifies " chief bird " ; that for woman, 

 " sun in center of sky " ; those for rainbow, 

 " he covers the rain " ; for milky way, " the 

 sturgeon stirs up the lake of heaven with his 

 nose and makes the water roily " ; eclipse is 

 " dead sun " ; moon, " night sun " ; spring (the 

 season) is " good water " ; Sunday, " worship 

 day " ; the toes are " they run in rotation " ; 

 corn is " grain of mysterious origin " ; cran- 

 berry, " marsh fruit " ; hammer, " the strik- 

 er " ; shot, " little duck ball " ; horse, " it has 

 one hoof " ; cat, " little glutton " ; blanket, 

 " white skin " ; and shirt, " thin skin." The 

 method of procedure in forming words by com- 

 bination varies from simple juxtaposition of 

 words to complicated agglutination or word de- 

 capitation. The language has a large number 

 of radical suffixes and affixes, or words that 

 have no independent existence as words, but 

 take the place of real words in composition. 

 Some of the animal myths and beast fables 

 of the tribe quoted by Mr. Chamberlain re- 

 mind us of Uncle Remus. 



Origin of Fashions. The question of the 

 origin of fashions has been much discussed 

 of late, without any fully satisfactory answer 

 having been found for it. Perhaps as nearly 

 correct a theory as any is that of the London 

 Spectator, which believes that there is no rul- 

 ing mind in the matter, " no system of de- 

 liberate invention or choice at all. The lead- 

 ing dressmakers of London and Paris find 

 their advantage in varying their designs as 

 frequently as possible ; and wherever a nov- 

 elty achieves any success, whether it be in 

 London or in Paris, it is immediate copied 

 by other dressmakers, and its general adop- 

 tion is as rapid as that of a slang word. 

 Equally rapid is its course toward exaggera- 

 tion ; its salient features are further and fur- 

 ther enlarged until the exaggeration becomes 

 grotesque, the reaction sets in, and fashion 

 swings back to the other extreme. Take, for 

 example, those peculiar sleeves which are now 

 worn. They began quite modestly in the 

 shape of a little puff upon the shoulder; 



these excrescences grew and grew until they 

 developed into the enormous and unsightly 

 humps which almost eclipse the wearer's head 

 when viewed from one side. The next stage 

 will be the gradual retreat back from this 

 monstrosity to the perfectly plain sleeve. The 

 plain sleeve will begin to pall again ; some 

 one will invent a swelling at the elbow, and 

 a swollen elbow will become fashionable, un- 

 til exaggeration has caused it to swell beyond 

 all bounds, and then back it will go to its 

 primitive simplicity, until the whole opera- 

 tion begins again da capo. The whole work- 

 ing of fashion may be divided into three sep- 

 arate processes genuine improvements with 

 an idea either to beauty or comfort, which 

 happen to hit the popular taste ; exaggera- 

 tion of these improvements ; reaction from 

 the exaggeration. That, at least, is how it 

 appears to us. As to the originators of the 

 improvements, we believe that they may be 

 counted by hundreds." 



Excessive Schooling. The status and 

 prospects of education were recently dis- 

 cussed by Lord Justice Bowen, of England, 

 in an address at the London Workingmen'a 

 College. The speaker's view is described as 

 one of "subdued hope." While education 

 has within our day undergone changes that 

 are hardly less than revolutionary, he admits 

 that they have not been wholly for good. 

 " The stream of knowledge has spread far 

 and wide beyond its accustomed banks ; it 

 does not flow everywhere at its old depth. 

 The first result of the flood is to fill the land 

 with what seems to be a mighty river ; the 

 next is to hide to all but practiced eyes the 

 course of the true stream. There is a wide 

 expanse of waters, but they are almost every- 

 where shallow and very often muddy." Our 

 modern education has been too largely vul- 

 garized. The quality of the supply is inevi- 

 tably affected by the quantity of the demand. 

 The half-trained multitude can not distin- 

 guish between the best and the second best ; 

 and prolific mediocrity is at a premium. Yet 

 we must not be too sadly disappointed that 

 our overwrought expectations have not been 

 wholly fulfilled. The more prudent advo- 

 cates of popular education never pretended 

 to present it as a cure-all. They never 

 thought that it was designed to supersede 

 morality and religion. They never expected 



