?' The degeneracy of a good word w
ar" illustrated In a case at Branksos
'be (Dorset!, in which a witness spoke
tin the defendant as "this fellow" and w
ills ordered by the bench to substltu
rs- "this man." "Fellow" began ve
n?t honorably by meaning a person w
era pUt down money with others in
tne joint undertaking, Its component pai
ati- being nkln respectively to "fee" (pw
ive erty) nnd to "lay" and "law." To tl
tiey day It is dignified to be a fellow of
to college, and nobody minds being call
ind a "fellow citizen," a "fellow Chr
f?r tian" or a "good fellow."
But ordinarily "fellow" alone ran
1 ?f now as In the painful scene in whl
:,1'3 Mr Tupman said, "Slr, you're a f
?b> low," and Mr. Pickwick retorted, "fi
iQ . you're another." In the fourteen
as - century lt was customary to call
so servant "fellow" In kindly condesci
sion. Perhaps that explains the wor
om- decline, though it may be due to 1
ex- use of "fellow" lu the sense of bc
"ot j companion. "Companion" and "ma1
*en also were contemptuous at one tlmt
' London Chronicle.
ASH WEDNESDAY.
ioma Old Time Customs of the Day
and What They Meant
With the exception of Good Friday
;hero ls no more solemn day In tba
?burch year than Ash Wednesday. Ev?
erybody understands that it ls the first
lay of Lent, but that lt hus not al?
ways been Included In Lent doubtless
s a fact little known.
