this mode of pronunę.ation. Habits of speech, when formed in early life, are the most ineradicable of all habits; and this one, I believe, is absolutely beyond the reach of any discipline, and even of prolonged association with good speakers. I have had opportunities of observing many English persons of both sexes who came to "America" in their early childhood, who were educated here, and who had attained mature years, and yet they could not utter the initial h, but for example, would say ee for he. If they did, by special effort, sound the h, it was with a harsh ejaculation, and not with that light touch which, although so distinctly perceptible, is but a delicate breathing, and which comes so unconsciously to good speakers in England, and to bad speakers as well as good-to allin "America." In England I observed many people in a constant struggle with their h's, overcoming and being overcome, and sometimes triumphing when victory was defeat.

The number of h's that come to an untimely end in England daily is quite incalculable. Of the forty millions of people there cannot be more than two or three millions who are capable of a healthy, well breathed h. Think, then, of the numbers of this innocent letter that are sacrificed between sun and sun! If we could send them over a few million of h's a week, they could supply almost as great a need as that which we supply by our corn and beef and cheese.

There is a gradation, too, in the misuse of this letter. It is silent when it should be heard; but it is also added, or rather prefixed, to words in which it has no place. Now the latter fault is the sign and token of a much lower condition in life than the former. The man who puts on a superfluous h, and says harm for arm and heyes for eyes, will surely drop the h from its rightful place, and say ed and art for head and heart; but the converse is far from being true. The superfluous h is a much graver solecism than the suppressed. It is barbarous. To hear it you must go very low in the social scale. But, on the other hand, the suppression of the h is a habit that creeps up towards the very highest ranks, diminishing in strength and extent as it rises, until it wholly disappears. For example, only Englishmen of the very uppermost class and finest breeding say home and hotel; all others, 'ome and 'otel. And the latter are unconscious of the slip, so sure that they do say home and hotel, that if they are charged with dropping the h they will deny it, and make desperate efforts to utter the sound, which result only in throwing a very great stress upon the o. These two words are the last and most delicate test of the h malady. Past that line English speech, when not impaired by individual incapacity or tainted by affectation, is perfect, “express and admirable."

The first peculiarity that attracted my attention in the speech of Englishmen was a thick, throaty utterance. It was not new to me, but I was struck by its general diffusion. The attempt is somewhat as if the speaker were attempting to combine speech with the deglutition of mashed potato. This peculiar utterance, in which a gutteral aw seems to prevail, is, however, far from being universal. It is not high-class speech. Yet it begins to manifest itself somewhat high in the social scale, being perceptible just below what may be called the Oxford and Cambridge level. Then it broadens down from precedent to subsequent, until, when it reaches the lowest level, it is broad enough and thick enough for the foundation of a very substantial theory of peculiarity in national speech. It manifests itself chiefly in the utterance of some of the sounds of a, o, and u, in combination with and r; for example, in such words as ale, pale, people, and royal, which are spoken by Englishmen of the lower and lower-middle classes much as if they were written ayull, payull, peopull, and ryull, the I's being gobbled low in the throat with a turkey-like gulp. The tendency to this mode of speech seemed to be strongest in those who were short-necked and corpulent. I remember one obese, red-faced shopman who gulped at "Royal Wilton" in such a strangling fashion that I should hardly have been surprised to see him fall down upon the spot in a fit of apoplexy. General negative assertions are unsafe; and I shall therefore not say that this gulp is never heard among eduacted English gentlemen and ladies; but I am sure that in such society I never heard it.

The ill treatment which the letter h receives from a very large proportion of the English people has long been known to the most superficial observers of their speech. It is the substance and the point of a joke which never loses its zest. Mr. Punch's artists, when hard put to it for the subject of a social sketch, can always fall back upon the misfortunes of the aspirate. H in speech is an unmistakable mark of class distinction in England, as every observant person soon discovers. I remarked upon this to an English gentleman, an officer, who replied, "It's the greatest blessing in the world; a sure protection against cads. You meet a fellow who is well dressed and behaves himself decently enough, and yet you don't exactly know what to make of him; but get him talking, and if he trips upon his h's that settles the question. He's a chap you'd better be shy of." Another friend said to me of a London man of wealth, and of such influence that comes from wealth and good nature, "The governor has lots of sense, and is the best fellow in the world; but he hasn't an h to bless himself with." And there seems to be no help for the person who has once acquired

this mode of pronunc ation. Habits of speech, when formed in early life, are the most ineradicable of all habits; and this one, I believe, is absolutely beyond the reach of any discipline, and even of prolonged association with good speakers. I have had opportunities of observing many English persons of both sexes who came to "America" in their early childhood, who were educated here, and who had attained mature years, and yet they could not utter the initial h, but for example, would say ee for he. If they did, by special effort, sound the h, it was with a harsh ejaculation, and not with that light touch which, although so distinctly perceptible, is but a delicate breathing, and which comes so unconsciously to good speakers in England, and to bad speakers as well as good-to all— in "America." In England I observed many people in a constant struggle with their h's, overcoming and being overcome, and sometimes triumphing when victory was defeat.

The number of h's that come to an untimely end in England daily is quite incalculable. Of the forty millions of people there cannot be more than two or three millions who are capable of a healthy, well breathed h. Think, then, of the numbers of this innocent letter that are sacrificed between sun and sun! If we could send them over a few million of h's a week, they could supply almost as great a need as that which we supply by our corn and beef and cheese.

There is a gradation, too, in the misuse of this letter. It is silent when it should be heard; but it is also added, or rather prefixed, to words in which it has no place. Now the latter fault is the sign and token of a much lower condition in life than the former. The man who puts on a superfluous h, and says harm for arm and heyes for eyes, will surely drop the h from its rightful place, and say ed and art for head and heart; but the converse is far from being true. The superfluous h is a much graver solecism than the suppressed. It is barbarous. To hear it you must go very low in the social scale. But, on the other hand, the suppression of the h is a habit that creeps up towards the very highest ranks, diminishing in strength and extent as it rises, until it wholly disappears. For example, only Englishmen of the very uppermost class and finest breeding say home and hotel; all others, 'ome and 'otel. And the latter are unconscious of the slip, so sure that they do say home and hotel, that if they are charged with dropping the h they will deny it, and make desperate efforts to utter the sound, which result only in throwing a very great stress upon the o. These two words are the last and most delicate test of the h malady. Past that line English speech, when not impaired by individual incapacity or tainted by affectation, is perfect, "express and admirable."

*

I was passing a hatter's shop, and seeing the shop-keeper himself, as I supposed, at the door, and thinking that he looked like the sort of man I should like to talk with, I stopped, and, entering, asked the price of a hat. “Seven and six, sir, that style. Them, nine shillin. But if you'd like to 'ave sumthink werry helegant, 'ere's our tiptop harticle at ten and six." I thought it right to tell him that I did not intend buying, but I was attracted by his hats, and wished to know the price. He was perfectly civil and good natured, as I always found London shopmen, whether I bought or not; nor did I ever encounter among them either servility or browbeating. He answered, with a rueful little h'm and smile, "Hi thought so. Hi see your 'at was too new for you to want another. Would you be so good to let me look hat it, sir?" I doffed and handed it to him. “H'm! Lincoln and Bennett! Hi thought so. Hall you swell gents does to them, 'cos they've got a big name, an' so they gits big prices. But there's hother people knows 'ow to make a 'at as well as Lincoln and Bennett. Look 'at that 'un," handing me one of our tiptop harticles. Then, with a burst of enthusiasm, "Would you be so good as to put on that 'at, sir?" I complied. "There, Hi do think that sets you hoff, helegant. Hanythink nobbier Hi never see." As the hat was decidedly too small for me, to say nothing more, I did not agree with him, and set it down in silence. "That 'at, sir, 's a harticle Hi'm proud of, and I'll set it agen hanythink that hever come hout of Lincoln and Bennett's shop." "I beg pardon," I said, "but you call at an article; I thought it was a preposition." The temptation was irresistible; but I did not know what might come of my yielding to it, and I prepared for a quick retreat. But I was safe in the density of his mental faculties. "Proposition' sir?,' said he, after a moment. "I 'aven't 'eared hany; but I shall be happy to 'ave one, though I couldn't put it hany lower to you than wot I 'ave." To tell the truth, I felt a little ashamed of myself. The man's ignorance was not his fault. Putting my own proposition on my head, I bade him good-day; and as I turned the corner-it was the next one-I saw him looking after me with that bewildered air of one vainly struggling at apprehension.

JESSE L. HURLBUT

HENRY W. WARREN

GEORGE E. VINCENT, Principal.

MISS KATE F. KIMBALL, Executive Secretary.

"There was no hunger, war nor strife

For none was wronged and none oppressed,
But every man just led the life

And thought the thoughts that he loved best."

The C. L. S. C. has from the beginning laid emphasis upon "the college outlook" which it aims to give to readers of its four years' course. It is natural, therefore, that changes which gradually take place in the attitude of the college world toward the study of certain subjects should find their counterpart also in the C. L. S. C. Course. Very significant have been some of these changes as pointed out by President Faunce at the last Mohonk Peace Conference:

"Today the most attractive subjects in most universities are found in social and political science. We remember, all of us, how, twenty-five years ago, it was physical science with its dazzling triumphs that drew the majority of our young men; how a little later it was biology, to unravel the secrets of human life; how, still later, they turned to psychology, thinking it would explain the basis of our mental life. But today it is the study of the family, society, social institutions, the development of the village community, the city, the state, the nation, our international relations, international law, that is most attractive to a large percentage of our students.

"But social science has no patience with the old drum and trumpet histories of the past. It finds more interest in the cabin of the peasant, in the livelihood of the farmer, carpenter and mason, more interest in the struggle and uplift of the laborer than in the