Now, in the first place, I was writing under an assumed character, and must talk as the person would whose mouthpiece I made myself. Will any one familiar with the New England countryman venture to tell me that he does not speak of sacred things familiarly? that Biblical allusions (allusions, that is, to the single book with whose language, from his church-going habits, he is intimate) are not frequent on his lips? If so, he cannot have pursued his studies of the character on so many long-ago muster-fields and at so many cattle-shows as I. But I scorn any such line of defence, and will confess at once that one of the things I am proud of in my countrymen is (I am not speaking now of such persons as I have assumed Mr. Sawin to be) that they do not put their Maker away far from them, or interpret the fear of God into being afraid of Him. The Talmudists had conceived a deep truth when they said, that 'all things were in the power of God, save the fear of God;' and when people stand in great dread of an invisible power, I suspect they mistake quite another personage for the Deity. I might justify myself for the passages criticised by many parallel ones from Scripture, but I need not. The Reverend Homer Wilbur's note-books supply me with three apposite quotations. The first is from a Father of the Roman Church, the second from a Father of the Anglican, and the third from a Father of Modern English poetry. The Puritan divines would furnish me with many more such. St. Bernard says, Sapiens nummularius est Deus: nummum fictum non recipiet; 'A cunning money-changer is God: he will take in no base coin.' Latimer says, 'You shall perceive that God, by this example, shaketh us by the noses and taketh us by the ears.' Familiar enough, both of them, one would say! But I should think Mr. Biglow had verily stolen the last of the two maligned passages from Dryden's 'Don Sebastian,' where I find
'And beg of Heaven to charge the bill on me!'
And there I leave the matter, being willing to believe that the Saint, the Martyr, and even the Poet, were as careful of God's honor as my critics are ever likely to be.
II. GLOSSARY TO THE BIGLOW PAPERS
Act'lly, actually. Air, are. Airth, earth. Airy, area. Aree, area. Arter, after. Ax, ask.
Beller, bellow.
Bellowses, lungs.
Ben, been.
Bile, boil.
Bimeby, by and by.
Blurt out, to speak bluntly.
Bust, burst.
Buster, a roistering blade; used also as a general superlative.
Caird, carried.
Cairn, carrying.
Caleb, a turncoat.
Cal'late, calculate.
Cass, a person with two lives.
Close, clothes.
Cockerel, a young cock.
Cocktail, a kind of drink; also, an ornament peculiar to
soldiers.
Convention, a place where people are imposed on; a juggler's show.
Coons, a cant term for a now defunct party; derived, perhaps, from
the fact of their being commonly up a tree.
Cornwallis, a sort of muster in masquerade; supposed to have had
its origin soon after the Revolution, and to commemorate the surrender
of Lord Cornwallis. It took the place of the old Guy Fawkes procession.
Crooked stick, a perverse, froward person.
Cunnle, a colonel.
Cus, a curse; also, a pitiful fellow.
Darsn't, used indiscriminately, either in singular or plural number, for dare not, dares not, and dared not. Deacon off, to give the cue to; derived from a custom, once universal, but now extinct, in our New England Congregational churches. An important part of the office of deacon was to read aloud the hymns given out by the minister, one line at a time, the congregation singing each line as soon as read. Demmercrat, leadin', one in favor of extending slavery; a free-trade lecturer maintained in the custom-house. Desput, desperate. Dō', don't. Doos, does. Doughface, a contented lick-spittle; a common variety of Northern politician. Dror, draw. Du, do. Dunno, dno, do not or does not know. Dut, dirt.
Eend, end.
Ef, if.
Emptins, yeast.
Env'y, envoy.
Everlasting, an intensive, without reference to duration.
Ev'y, every.
Ez, as.
Fence, on the; said of one who halts between two opinions; a trimmer.
Fer, for.
Ferfle, ferful, fearful; also an intensive.
Fin', find.
Fish-skin, used in New England to clarify coffee.
Fix, a difficulty, a nonplus.
Foller, folly, to follow.
Forrerd, forward.
Frum, from.
Fur, for
Furder, farther.
Furrer, furrow. Metaphorically, to draw a straight furrow is to
live uprightly or decorously.
Fust, first.