AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 2, 10 January 1891, Page 19

AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE.

Notwithstanding baby’s wonderful qualities, it must be admitted that he speaks an unknown tongue to the uninitiated. Mamma can of course understand her king, but she enjoys unusual advantages. The listener may mention the case of a fond mother of his acquaintance who had so remarkable a baby that, the mother insists, it says ‘ Mamma’s little girl ’ so distinctly that anybody in the world could make it out. And this is the way, exactly, that the baby pronounces it: ‘Lubble, lubble, lubble !’ This is not nearly such plain English as that of a friend of the listener's, now a man, and an honest, able one, who, when he was two years old, mystified the members of his family by calling out in the most imperative mood : ‘ Bixit, baxit, cloxit !’ They all gathered round, and tried hard to make out what the youngster meant. But the most definite statement that they could get out of him was, ‘ Bixit, baxit, cloxit!’ At last, by dint of a good deal of pantomime, the child got them into the pantry, and indicated a particular place in it, and then his remark translated itself to them. What he meant to say was, ‘ I want a biscuit, in the basket, in the closet!’