The Postmistress has looked into the history of the word _hoiden_,
concerning which a correspondent inquires. It is derived from the German
_heyde_, which means heath or country place. Originally used to describe
a rude (in the sense of rustic or home-bred) fellow, it has come to mean
a wild, awkward, and romping girl. The received modern spelling is
hoiden, but Churchill, Young, and Milton spelled it hoyden.
The study of language is very interesting. Words are pictures conveying
ideas to the eye of the mind almost as vividly as the artist's brush and
colors convey them to the eye. From one generation to another, words
change their social positions. _Fellow_, for instance, was once highly
respectable. It is now a term of contempt. A very thoughtful writer says
that "words once refined, elegant, and even solemn, come in process of
time to suggest trivial, vulgar, or ludicrous thoughts or images." In
fact, words are continually dropping out of use or gradually altering
their signification, and, more slowly, new words, like new coins from
the mint, are finding their way into circulation.
The Postmistress was in a public conveyance one day, no matter when, no
matter where. She was in a brown-study. But it was not so brown that her
eyes and ears were shut to her neighbors. Beside her sat two
fine-looking young people, who were making the most of spare moments. He
was listening; she was reading. She read charmingly, with the right
shadings to her phrases, and the tones of her voice were very musical.
Still the Postmistress thought they had made a mistake in bringing their
book with them, and reading aloud then and there. The persons themselves
enjoyed it, but some of their neighbors were annoyed. An old gentleman
who was reading the morning paper was disturbed by her inflections, and
more than one young gentleman stared fiercely at him. It would have been
better for both to have conversed in a low tone over the reading of the
past or about the reading of the future than in the reading of the
present to have in any way infringed on the rights of the travelling
public.
Have any of you ever kept a home journal? It is a very pleasant thing to
have a family book in which every day somebody writes the interesting
events of the day. It is not necessary that the writing shall be done by
one person in particular, although, for the sake of convenience, a
sister or brother may be the chief scribe. The book should be kept in
the sitting-room, free to all; and if the lesser and larger family
happenings are set down in it from day to day, it will deepen in
interest as time goes on. Keep a list of visitors, a record of
excursions, a notice of birthdays, and, in brief, the story of your
family life, in this home journal, and you will find it worth the
trouble.
* * * * *
The articles in this number specially designed for the C. Y. P. R. U.
are "The Story of the Negro Fort" (illustrated), by George Cary
Eggleston; an article on "Cameos" (illustrated), by Barnet Phillips; and
a pretty piece of fancy work for boys and girls, with two illustrations.
* * * * *