There is a certain understanding among contributors to puzzle columns that an anagram is a word, name, place, or event so transposed that it will relate in some way to the original subject; while if merely so transposed that it will produce other words not relative to the original, it is called a transposition; but transpositions are usually made of a single word, as, for instance, the following by a lady of Toledo, Ohio, who signs herself "Mazie Lane":
"Transpose a musical anthem grand,
And find a picture by a red man's hand."
The answer is Motet—Totem.
Here is one by a young man of Boston, who signs himself "Sphinx":
"Gay, pretty flowers of the spring,
Transposed will stipulators bring."
Answer: Primroses—Promisers.
These are good examples of transpositions, as they are called, while the word Astronomers, which is turned into moon-starers, is an excellent example of word-anagram. One of the best, and probably only word in the English language of which so perfect an anagram can be made, is a word I discovered in my dictionary not long since. It is the word stum, and turned into the anagram of must. The definition of each word is the same—"unfermented grape juice or wine."
As the following anagrams were when published signed by their authors with a nom de plume, or assumed name, I will give due credit by giving the name of each.
A contributor who signed himself "Wilkins Micawber" sent me the following in 1879:
"We all can say, and speak the truth,
How well we knew her in our youth."
The door ring tided ill.