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April 7, 1909. T* OUR BRIGHTSIDE LETTER. Can We Make Good Use of Slang? One of the trials of the Foot of the Table who is not an Autocrat is the freqi"3t eruption of slang. Just where it cjmes from, the street, or the shop, cr the school, it is hard to say. It is hard to keep it out of our table debates, when the late president leaves his seven years in the White House saying he has had "a bully time," and the superintendent of home missions for the reverend, the Synod of Virginia, prints it in red display in his effective bulletins. i ue >vora siang' lias an uncertain origin, possibly gipsy. And it is uncertain also in its meaning; an Unauthorized word or. phrase; a weed in speech because it is out of place, not good iorm, belonging to the low and vulgar in life, and striving to take a place in language better than its birth. It is often shocking to ears polite. And when it breaks out in our table talk, what can the Foot do but mildly protest, seeing that he is not a recognized Autocrat? Hut our language is not dead. It represents and expresses the life of those thai use it. With the active, growing life of a people, there is growth in knowledge, in observatiou, in vision, and therefore growth in words. We get thoughts and facts and new ideas from below ourselves as well as from above, and words and phrases come with them. It is a common thing in language that words tend to degenerate and seek lower levels. In the old book, "The Diversions of Purley," by Horne Tooke, and in the mier suiaies or Words," by Dean Trench, are many examples of the descent of words from high birth and noble uses to meanings, narrow, low, sometimes shameful, as if language partook of the depravity of those who* talk and write. Why should it not also be true that words ascend and climb from the ignoble and unworthy, on the character and thought of people as on a trellis, up into light and a better life until their origin and low birth are forgotten? Certainly some wcrds have hoon KrAii orV* i ? A* >wu u></uBut hiiu ucucr company man they knew in their childhood, and some slang phrases of a very worldly and unsentimental beginning have been put to better uses. So Ihe Foot of the Table has been discoursing, when a pause gives him opportunity, on some of the phrases that he hears. When some one spoke of "things that matter," for example, he used the chance to talk. It can scarcely he Onllert eloncr Kn? H l? ? 11 _ ?ul. 11 10 a wen worn phrase which it is very well to hold ou to. He undertook to say that It suggested distinctions that it is wise to make and would be very useful to some young people that he knew. Manners are "things that matter," and correct grammar and neatness in dress, and habits of punctuality, and exact dealings, and consideration, and reverence, and such like things. They matter in making the young person himself what he ought to be, and they matter In making the estimate held of him by the world around him. It was soou suggested, however that someone was IE PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU! SFKi ^ BaKi ?yfr?j * Kenders the food more wholesom perior in lightness a The only baking po made from Royal Grape Cream of > 1 preaching and public debate was resumed with a rush. When it was told that a friend was "making good," the Foot of the Table declared it was a fine phrase and a noble thing to do, and there was a short deliverance on what means to "makft good," to use the opportunity to fulfil the nromisB nf -l " ? *' A ...?>, vi . f^ino auu Lilt? UUIlgcltlOll of talents The boy who lives up to the chance he has, who meets the hopes of his friends, who fulfils the best things: of his manhood, who wins the goal in his manly race, who comes in from the wide and perilous sea of life with a rich cargo of worthy achievement, that's the one who "makes good." And the good he has made by his own fidelity and energy is chiefly in himself. He has not only woven a chaplet for his own brow, but he has made himself a better, atrnncop MV. v..0w t itv/uici mail. The last opportunity the Foot had to preach at the Table was when one said to another, about some trifling thing, "It's up to you!" How could he fail, though it was only about a challenge to football or a foot race, how could he fail to say,- "Yes, It's up to you," each of you? "It's up tc you!" to prove your manhood, to make the best yourself, to win success, to rescue the life entrusted to you and make it a goodly heritage for yourself and a splendid gift to the world. But the "Table" called a halt on the stolen preaching, and we heard the slang again as they crowded out. J. P. 8. THE LEES-McRAE INSTITUTE. This institution, which has, during its nine years of existence, been a most potent factor for good, will again open its doors on the first of MnV Situated as it is, among the majestic mountains of North Carolina, where the student bodjF live near to nature's heart and drink into their hearts and minds the purity and soul uplifting influences of their natural environments, no one could ask for a more ideal spot. The young women who have been so fortunate as to be received into thi3 home (for a home it is in every sense) * * * H. ai __ in^r Powder volxitely Txire te and su- -v$4 nd flavor. tSKR 1 Tartar. have one by one gone out from its walls to take their places in the world and only God can know the influence which through them it wields over the surrounding country. Lianner Elk, the little village, in which the school is located, is about 4,000 feet above the sea level. It Is easy of access and still so far removed from the hum and stir of busy life that the girls have little to take their minds from their books. When the school assembles In May (it ruDs from May to Christmas), winter is just beginning to abdicate, and spring with its reviving life is beginning to clothe the mountains in its garb of fresh green. In a short time the beautiful rhododendron is one great mass of bloom, making the mountains sides a perfect dream of beauty. Then the daisies, the pure white daisies, with their great colden hpnrta *w _ wici an me land. When these have passed away and autumn comes with her royal purple and scarlet, the sight is a magnificent one. The teachers come from some of the most refined and cultured homes in our land. The girl who is fortunate enough to spend eight months under their influence and instruction is not likely to fall short of a high ideal in life. The curriculum is equal to that of any high school in the land. Besides the ordinary branches of a good literary course, including a thorough course in the Bible. th? eriiia vmvo ? ' , w 0.. UM*? niv> uypui lUUliy of careful instruction in art, music and industrial work. In the last named department they are taught to bottom chairs, weave rugs, make baskets, sew and cook. By running the school during the summer and without any servants' hire, the prices for board and tuition are so low that in many instances, it is cheaper for parents to keep their daughters here than it is to keep them at home. For further particulars write Rev. Edgar Tufts, Banner Elk, N. C. Mildred B. Watkins. Moss Point, Miss.