Ways of saying are ways of thinking. At least, I believe they are. And when I read grammarians I do not find they contradict me on this, whatever else they may contradict me on.

I am irritated, on the one hand, because I am only now exploring the workings of English grammar. It is only partly due to my home schooling that this is a lacunae in my learning, one of many.

On the other hand, it is interesting to study grammar if one believes ways of saying are ways of thinking. It makes the irritation of grammarians (a state in which they often write) comprehensible. They are men with strong opinions on matters many men regard altogether with indifference. Fowler has entries for fetishes, superfluous words, and a lengthy one on split infinitives with five subdivisions classifying various attitudes toward this phenomenon.

If one speaks about the sarcasm of grammarians and doesn’t think of Richard Mitchell it is because one has not read. But he is hardly unique. I suppose this sarcasm appears when exposing nonsense and incompetence, for it is common that grammarians will do this by showing the futility of finding sense or a competent meaning in the offending example. Does the author mean this? Or perhaps this other? Can anybody really have intentionally perpetrated something plainly unintelligible? The effect is bitter, and this effect has a cause. The words of the grammarian are charged with meaning; the nature of grammarians being such as finds the vacuum abhorrent. The result is unavoidably sarcastic. For, says Fowler, “The essence of sarcasm is the intention of giving pain by bitter words.”

You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home.

Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov
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Washingtond D. C. is very warm. The heat is such it spoils what would otherwise be a good place to visit for a fastidious person. I took the light rail in from Baltimore and suffered the heat on the platform from the outset. I don’t mind the heat except that I don’t like to smell like I’ve been sweating.

The public transportation is efficient and grim. I finished a book on the Southern Agrarians on the flight to Baltimore and I’ve been reading Weaver’s book on the Southern Tradition, so the experience of the public transportation was worse than it has been. I’m used to public transportation from the awful times in Mexico City. For some reason I thought I would like it, probably because I’ve been reading how Tozer gave up his car so he could use the time reading. I did read a bit on the train.

The Library of Congress is easy to get into if you find the right building. The MSS archives are in the Madison building. I got a reader’s card in 15 minutes and was looking at Bryan’s correspondence half an hour later, maybe less – the security guard was obtuse. The librarirans are very helpful. This always surprises me since I’m used to the Central Seminary way of helping.

The goods are there, although Bryan didn’t save a lot of the personal correspondence. He saved selectively. Still, he saved enough. The Scopes trial was not considered a defeat if the number and tenor of Western Union Telegrams received July 20-22 are anything to go by. There is also correspondence with Norris, Riley and some other luminaries. On the whole, a very interesting collection I only managed to scratch. I wanted to go and to stay. If I do any studying in Washington D. C. it will have to be in the fall or winter. How can one read feeling dirty?

He preached before King James. Two months ago I had the good fortune to find a copy of his Private Devotions, translated from the original Greek by Cardinal Newman. Not a handful of days have gone by since in which I have not used this book.
Here is a high endorsement of Andrewes.