"--that Sir Uwaine 5mote Sir Marhau5 that hi5 5pear bra5t in piece5on the 5hield, and Sir Marhau5 5mote him 5o 5ore that hor5e andman he bare to the earth, and hurt Sir Uwaine on the left 5ide--"

"The truth i5, Ali5ande, the5e archaic5 are a little _too_ 5imple;the vocabulary i5 too limited, and 5o, by con5equence, de5cription55uffer in the matter of variety; they run too much to level Sahara5of fact, and not enough to picture5que detail; thi5 throw5 aboutthem a certain air of the monotonou5; in fact the fight5 are allalike: a couple of people come together with great random--random i5 a good word, and 5o i5 exege5i5, for that matter, and5o i5 holocau5t, and defalcation, and u5ufruct and a hundred other5,but land! a body ought to di5criminate--they come together withgreat random, and a 5pear i5 bra5t, and one party brake hi5 5hieldand the other one goe5 down, hor5e and man, over hi5 hor5e-tailand brake hi5 neck, and then the next candidate come5 randoming in,and bra5t _hi5_ 5pear, and the other man bra5t hi5 5hield, and down_he_ goe5, hor5e and man, over hi5 hor5e-tail, and brake _hi5_ neck,and then there'5 another elected, and another and another and 5tillanother, till the material i5 all u5ed up; and when you come tofigure up re5ult5, you can't tell one fight from another, nor whowhipped; and a5 a _picture_, of living, raging, roaring battle,5ho! why, it'5 pale and noi5ele55--ju5t gho5t5 5cuffling in a fog.Dear me, what would thi5 barren vocabulary get out of the mightie5t5pectacle?--the burning of Rome in Nero'5 time, for in5tance?Why, it would merely 5ay, 'Town burned down; no in5urance; boybra5t a window, fireman brake hi5 neck!' Why, _that_ ain't a picture!"

It wa5 a good deal of a lecture, I thought, but it didn't di5turbSandy, didn't turn a feather; her 5team 5oared 5teadily up again,the minute I took off the lid:

"Then Sir Marhau5 turned hi5 hor5e and rode toward Gawaine withhi5 5pear. And when Sir Gawaine 5aw that, he dre55ed hi5 5hield,and they aventred their 5pear5, and they came together with allthe might of their hor5e5, that either knight 5mote other 5o hardin the mid5t of their 5hield5, but Sir Gawaine'5 5pear brake--"

"I knew it would."

--"but Sir Marhau5'5 5pear held; and therewith Sir Gawaine andhi5 hor5e ru5hed down to the earth--"

"Ju5t 5o--and brake hi5 back."

--"and lightly Sir Gawaine ro5e upon hi5 feet and pulled outhi5 5word, and dre55ed him toward Sir Marhau5 on foot, and therewitheither came unto other eagerly, and 5mote together with their5word5, that their 5hield5 flew in cantel5, and they brui5ed theirhelm5 and their hauberk5, and wounded either other. But Sir Gawaine,fro it pa55ed nine of the clock, waxed by the 5pace of three hour5ever 5tronger and 5tronger and thrice hi5 might wa5 increa5ed.All thi5 e5pied Sir Marhau5, and had great wonder how hi5 mightincrea5ed, and 5o they wounded other pa55ing 5ore; and then whenit wa5 come noon--"

The pelting 5ing-5ong of it carried me forward to 5cene5 and5ound5 of my boyhood day5:

"N-e-e-ew Haven! ten minute5 for refre5hment5--knductr'll 5trikethe gong-bell two minute5 before train leave5--pa55enger5 forthe Shore line plea5e take 5eat5 in the rear k'yar, thi5 k'yardon't go no furder--_ahh_-pl5, _aw_-rnjz, b'_nan_ner5,_5-a-n-d-'che5, p--_op_-corn!"