expression to say : he conducted well, for he conducted him-
self well ; or powerful tired, for very tired. At times there
is difficulty in deciding what is a provincialism. Thus, in
the United States, of the two words bucket and pail, one is
favored in the West, the other in the East. Both words
are old, being found in the language before the Norman
Conquest, and both are used in literature. Neither one is
likely to become obsolete as long as The Old Oaken Bucket
and Jack and Gill are known to boys and girls.
In England, by reason of the literary ascendency of
London, Oxford, and Cambridge, it is not difficult to draw
the line between national and dialectic. The speech of
the educated classes in the capital and in the two univer-
sity towns is the national speech. In the United States,
where there is less centralization and greater commercial
and political rivalry, we must be less confident. Never-
theless, we can scarcely err in accepting as standard the
diction of that long line of noted writers which began with
Irving and ended with Holmes.
