to look at two persons at once; the mere fact that I looked at the one nearest me did not mean that I was not addressing both.  I expected an answer from both, and I got it, too (as is generally the case where ice-cream is concerned).

The subject is one to which I have devoted the most careful attention for many years.  I have been so interested in it that almost unconsciously, whenever I myself use the expression “you-all,” or hear any one else use it, I note whether it is intended to refer to one or to more than one person.  I have heard thousands of persons, white, black and indifferent, use the expression, and the only ones I have ever heard use it incorrectly are what we might call “professional Southerners.”  For instance, last week I went to a vaudeville show, and part of the performance was given by two “black-face” comedians, calling themselves “The Georgia Blossoms.”  Their dialect was excellent, with the single exception that one of them twice used the expression “you-all” where it could not possibly have meant more than one person.  And I no sooner heard it than I said to myself:  “There is one blossom that never bloomed in Georgia!”

Another instance is the following:  I was once approached by a beggar in Atlanta, who saluted me thus:  “Say, mister, can’t you-all give me a nickel?” Had I been accompanied it would have been all right, but I was alone, and there was no other person near me except the hobo.  Did I give him the nickel?  I should say not!  I said to myself:  “He is a damned Yankee trying to pass himself off for a Southerner.”

Horrid glimmerings began to filter dimly through.  And yet—­

Next day came a letter calling my attention to an article, written years ago by Joel Chandler Harris and Thomas Nelson Page, jointly, in which they plead with northern writers not to misuse the disputed expression by applying it in the singular.

That was another shock.  I felt conviction tottering....  But she did look at me....  She didn’t expect an answer from my companion....

And then behold! a missive from Mr. H.E.  Jones, a member—­and a worthy one—­of the Tallapoosa County Board of Education, and a resident of Dadeville, Alabama.  Mr. Jones’ educational activities reach far beyond Tallapoosa County, and far beyond the confines of his State, for he has educated me.  He has made me see the light.

“I want to straighten you out,” he wrote, kindly.  “We never use ‘you-all’ in the singular.  Not even the most ignorant do so.  But, as you know,” (Ah, that was mercifully said!) “there are some peculiar, almost unexplainable, shades of meaning in local idioms of speech, which are not easy for a stranger to understand.  I have a friend who was reared in Milwaukee and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, who tells me he would have argued the ‘you-all’ point with all comers for some years following his taking up his residence here, but he is at this time as ready as I to deny the allegation and ‘chaw the alligator.’