W (double U) has, of all the letters in our alphabet, the only cumbrous name, the names of the others being monosyllabic. This advantage of the Roman alphabet over the Grecian is the more valued after audibly spelling out some simple Greek word, like epixoriambikos. Still, it is now thought by the learned that other agencies than the difference of the two alphabets may have been concerned in the decline of "the glory that was Greece" and the rise of "the grandeur that was Rome." There can be no doubt, however, that by simplifying the name of W (calling it "wow," for example) our civilization could be, if not promoted, at least better endured.
WALLSTREET, n.
A symbol for sin for every devil to rebuke. That Wall Street is
a den of thieves is a belief that serves every unsuccessful thief
in place of a hope in Heaven.
WAR, n.
A by- product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political
condition is a period of international amity. The student of
history who has not been taught to expect the unexpected may
justly boast himself inaccessible to the light. "In time of peace
prepare for war" has a deeper meaning than is commonly discerned;
it means, not merely that all things earthly have an end-- that
change is the one immutable and eternal law-- but that the soil
of peace is thickly sown with the seeds of war and singularly
suited to their germination and growth.
WASHINGTONIAN, n.
A Potomac tribesman who exchanged the privilege of governing
himself for the advantage of good government. In justice to him
it should be said that he did not want to.
WEAKNESSES, n.pl.
Certain primal powers of Tyrant Woman wherewith she
holds dominion over the male of her species, binding him to the
service of her will and paralyzing his rebellious energies.
WEATHER, n.
The climate of the hour. A permanent topic of conversation among
persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the
tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom
it keenly concerned. The setting up official weather bureaus and
their maintenance in mendacity prove that even governments are
accessible to suasion by the rude forefathers of the jungle.
WEDDING, n.
A ceremony at which two persons undertake to become one, one
undertakes to become nothing, and nothing undertakes to become
supportable.
WEREWOLF, n.
A wolf that was once, or is sometimes, a man. All werewolves are
of evil disposition, having assumed a bestial form to gratify a
beastial appetite, but some, transformed by sorcery, are as
humane as is consistent with an acquired taste for human
flesh.Some Bavarian peasants having caught a wolf one evening,
tied it to a post by the tail and went to bed. The next morning
nothing was there! Greatly perplexed, they consulted the local
priest, who told them that their captive was undoubtedly a
werewolf and had resumed its human for during the night. "The
next time that you take a wolf," the good man said, "see that you
chain it by the leg, and in the morning you will find a
Lutheran."
WHEAT, n.
A cereal from which a tolerably good whisky can with some
difficulty be made, and which is used also for bread. The French
are said to eat more bread per capita of population than
any other people, which is natural, for only they know how to
make the stuff palatable.
WIDOW, n.
A pathetic figure that the Christian world has agreed to take
humorously, although Christ's tenderness towards widows was one
of the most marked features of his character.
WINE, n.
Fermented grape- juice known to the Women's Christian Union as
"liquor," sometimes as "rum." Wine, madam, is God's next best
gift to man.
WIT, n.
The salt with which the American humorist spoils his
intellectual cookery by leaving it out.
WITCH, n.
(1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with
the devil.
(2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a
league beyond the devil.
WITTICISM, n.
A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted, and seldom noted;
what the Philistine is pleased to call a "joke."
WOMAN, n.
An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man, and having a
rudimentary susceptibility to domestication. It is credited by
many of the elder zoologists with a certain vestigial docility
acquired in a former state of seclusion, but naturalists of the
postsusananthony period, having no knowledge of the seclusion,
deny the virtue and declare that such as creation's dawn beheld,
it roareth now. The species is the most widely distributed of all
beasts of prey, infesting all habitable parts of the globe, from
Greeland's spicy mountains to India's moral strand.
WORMS'-MEAT, n.
The finished product of which we are the raw material. The
contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the
Granitarium. Worms'-meat is usually outlasted by the structure
that houses it, but "this too must pass away." Probably the
silliest work in which a human being can engage is construction
of a tomb for himself. The solemn purpose cannot dignify, but
only accentuates by contrast the foreknown futility.
WORSHIP, n.
Homo Creator's testimony to the sound construction and fine
finish of Deus Creatus. A popular form of abjection, having an
element of pride.
WRATH, n.
Anger of a superior quality and degree, appropriate to exalted
characters and momentous occasions; as, "the wrath of God," "the
day of wrath," etc. Amongst the ancients the wrath of kings was
deemed sacred, for it could usually command the agency of some
god for its fit manifestation, as could also that of a priest.
The Greeks before Troy were so harried by Apollo that they jumped
out of the frying- pan of the wrath of Cryses into the fire of the
wrath of Achilles, though Agamemnon, the sole offender, was
neither fried nor roasted. A similar noted immunity was that of
David when he incurred the wrath of Yahveh by numbering his
people, seventy thousand of whom paid the penalty with their
lives. God is now Love, and a director of the census performs his
work without apprehension of disaster.