cramble
out of debt in the absence of its statesmen."

The old gentleman, with a bright smile, said that "he did not mind if
he did," and he "did" with such gusto that I had to call a cab.

VI

The old gentleman came in hurriedly and called for that to which he was
accustomed. He fumbled in one pocket after another, and after going over
all his pockets several times he remarked to me "I have forgotten my
purse." His air was so friendly and confiding that it more than repaid
me for the small sum which I had to advance. He sat down close beside
me, and, after touching on the difficulty of being understood in a
tavern, he drew genially to these remarks--

"Language may be described as a medium for recording one's sensations.
It is gesture translated into sound. It is noise with a meaning. Music
cannot at all compare with it, for music is no more than the scientific
distribution of noise, and it does not impart any meaning to the
disintegrated and harried tumults. Language may be divided into several
heads, which, again, may be subdivided almost indefinitely.--The primary
heads are, language, talk, and speech. Speech is the particular form of
noise which is made by Members of Parliament. Language is the symbols
whereby one lady in a back street makes audible her impressions of the
lady who lives on the same floor--it is often extremely sinewy. Talk may
be described as the crime of people who make one tired.

"It is my opinion that people talk too much. I think the world would be
a healthier and better place if it were more silent. On every day that
passes there is registered over all the earth a vast amount of language
which, so far as I can see, has not the slightest bearing on anything
anywhere.

"I have been told of a race living in Central Africa, or elsewhere, who
by an inherent culture were enabled to dispense with speech. They
whistled, and by practice had attained so copious and flexible a
vocabulary that they could whistle good-morning and good-night, or
how-do-you-do with equal facility and distinction. This, while it is a
step in the right direction, is not a sufficiently long step. To live
among these people might appear very like living in a cageful of canaries
or parrots. Parrots are a very superior race who usually travel with
sailors. They have a whistle which can be guided or deflected into
various by-ways. I once knew a parrot who was employed by a sailor-man
to curse for him when his own speech w