Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter IX
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
156 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
greatest emphasis on the adverbs and prepositions ; and
the poor host is in a state of desolation. The practical
traveller never attempts to speak any complimentary
phrases, but always looks compliments, shakes hands,
smiles, nods, &c.,—sits down to the table, opens his
mouth, points down the middle of it, and exclaims,
" Eggs ! " and not another syllable till assured that that
one is understood. Instead of reading from the "
Conversations Lexicon" such a sentence as, " Being rather
dyspeptic, and occasionally subject to flatulency, I find it
indispensable to my comfort to avoid eating hard-boiled
eggs: will you, therefore, be so kind as to boil my eggs
no more than is necessary to render them pulpy:"—
he points to the eggs, and exclaims, "Soft!" If the
subject be politics, instead of saying, " In the present
aspect of European affairs there is reason to believe
that rupture of diplomatic relations, or even actual
hostilities, between France and Austria is imminent,"—he
holds up his right fist, and says, " France," then his left,
and says, " Austria;" then he thumps them together,
and says, " fight—to-morrow." If you can thus divest
your mind entirely of all prejudices concerning number,
gender, case, tense, person, mood, and all sentimentalism
relative to agreement with nominatives—using none but
Ö O
the words necessary for expressing the main ideas,
omitting all the connecting words and those which
merely express the relations of words, and taking care
that each idea, before it is expressed, shall be mentally
clear and definite, with a sharp outline and no
metaphorical blurr or shading, you may learn to converse
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
