LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
109 
in tlie sights and sounds of the wilderness, their 
trained eyes and ears, young as they are, read a 
language, which to the mere oppidan would be a 
sealed book, putting all his boasted learning at 
fault. 
Of course provincialisms— slight peculiarities in 
dialect— are to be found in every part of a large 
country speaking the same language, and the 
inhabitant of one district has no right to assume 
any superiority over one of another who uses a 
phrase differing from his own. Still, however, in 
all 'liberality of allowance,, the knowledge of such 
differences may be a legitimate source of amuse- 
ment, and possibly of instruction. Let me tell 
you one or two idioms, in which the Alabamians 
rejoice. To “ holler,” is used to express any sort 
of noise as well as shouting ; a carpenter-bee was 
buzzing the other day, and one of the children 
remarked how the bee hollers in his hole ! ” To 
“ whip,” is to overcome, as we use “beat ” in the 
same extensive Bense. “ He whipped me at leap- 
ing, but I reckon I can whip him at running.” 
To “ tote ” is to carry; “I toted the huclcet^'’’ means 
“ I carried the little tin pail in which the dinner 
was brought to school.” A small river is a 
“ creek,” and a brook is a “ branch.” When I 
came first, I was inquiring for a neighbour’s house^ 
and was directed to pursue a certain path through 
the woods, till I crossed the hranch. I looked out 
for some low branch of a tree that grew across the 
road, and searched in vain, of course. The sticks, 
straws, foam, &c., which accumulate by the side of 
a stream are designated by the expressive term 
“ trash.” In dress, trousers are “ pantaloons,” 
and a jacket is a “roundabout.” I have been 
