Open Writing

Muriel came down to breakfast on a morning in early November, said good morning to her parents, then saw an enormous package addressed to her. It was heavy, and she guessed it contained books. That was indeed the case. She opened it and found a two-volume dictionary. On the first page her father had written “To Muriel with Love from Father, November, 1902”.

She wondered why her mother’s name had not also been appended, but realised that he was the one who would have chosen the gift. He explained that the dictionary was intended as a late birthday present and early Christmas present.

Muriel examined the title - A Standard Dictionary of the English Language by Funk and Wegnalls, New York and London. “But Father,” she said, “this is an American dictionary. Did you realise that?''

"Of course,'' he said with a smile. "This is the best dictionary I could find. It gives both the English and American spelling and definition of words. I don't think you could find a more complete dictionary for home use.''

"This is wonderful,'' Muriel said. "Thank you so much.'' She looked at the first volume, finding many coloured plates. There was an atlas at the back of the book. “There are 2,286 pages,” she said in awe. "In addition, there's the atlas and sections on disputed pronunciations and abbreviations and contractions. This should keep me busy for a while.''

"This is the sort of book that will still be useful a hundred years from now,'' said Mr King. "It can be passed down from generation to generation.'' He sounded pleased with himself.

Earlier that week Muriel had decided to invite her friends round to a dinner party. She would cook the food. They would be invited to stay the night in the Kings' home. She had invited May, along with Margaret and Jessie Tree. Margaret and Jessie were to sleep in the guest room, and May would share Muriel's room.

Muriel wanted the meal to be interesting and different, but not too challenging. She consulted Mrs Beeton's volume on household management for ideas. Since her parents and the servants would also be sharing the meal she would be cooking for eight people. Mrs Beeton did indeed provide five suggested autumn meals for eight people, and Muriel chose the first of these.

Julienne soup, turbot with shrimp sauce, braised chicken, boiled potatoes and vegetable marrow. Mrs Beeton's suggested cream dessert sounded too bland, so she decided on chocolate parfait in its stead.

She spent a long time examining diagrams of how to fold napkins, finally deciding that it would be fun to fold each of the napkins for her party in a different way. The various folds were named: the Bishop, the Fan, the Boat, the Palm, the Lily, the Cactus, the Slipper and the Pyramid.

“Are you all ready for the party this evening?” her mother inquired gently.

“I have bought all the food and studied the recipes. I shall make a start on the dessert later this morning, and then make sure I have time for the starter and main course after lunch,'' said Muriel confidently.

“Would you like me to help you? Or you could ask Amy or Emily to help with the vegetables.”

“No, this is my meal. I will prepare sufficient for you and father, and also for Amy and Emily. You can eat on your own, and I will entertain my friends in he dining room. I hope you don’t mind my taking it over. I have carefully planned this evening.''

"By all means my dear,'' said her mother. "I hope your plans include washing up the dishes.''

*

The meal was hailed as an enormous success by Muriel's guests. Afterwards they played a parlour game which made use of the new American dictionary. The other girls had been awed by its size, and the number of words which it contained.

"We will take turns in choosing a word,'' Muriel explained. "One will choose, the other three will guess the meaning of the word. I think we should choose words which are so difficult that we cannot guess the meaning of them, but words that are so well known that we all know them. And if the words are selected from a page by one of the coloured plates, we can enjoy looking at the pictures.''

She handed round pencils and paper to her friends.

"Since I devised the game, I suppose I should go first.'' Muriel opened the first volume of the dictionary - A to L - at a plate containing pictures of butterflies. "Now...I have chosen a word. It is buttwoman. You have five minutes to decide what it means. While you are deciding I can look at this picture.''

Her three friends stared around, as though looking for inspiration, but they all used pencil and paper.

“May, you go first,'' said Muriel. "What did you write?”

“Buttwoman – a lady with a big behind.” There were embarrassed chuckles.

Margaret came next. “I think it is a woman who fills water butts.”

"A lady who makes butter,'' said Jessie.

"I will be lenient,'' said Muriel. "You can all have 1 point for saying that it is a woman - but no points for saying what she does. It means a church cleaner or pew opener's assistant. Who would have thought that? Now, who is selecting the next word?

"I will,'' said Margaret, also looking in he first volume. The girls saw that she was looking in a section concerning birds. "The word is biod.''

After the allotted time the girls read out what they had written.

"Perhaps it is a rare species of bird,'' said Muriel.

"A garment worn next to the body,'' said Jessie.

"I also thought it has something to do with birds,'' said Margaret. "Perhaps a stuffed bird?''

"No points for anyone,''; said Margaret. "It means animal magnetism.''

“Can’t we have a point for saying that it had something to do with birds?” asked May.

“No, I think our marking has been far too generous,'' Margaret retorted.

“My turn,” said May, taking the book from her. “My word is geck.''

The girls wrote down their ideas.

“To look at something carefully.”

“A bird with a funny call.”

"Something that is not nice, or unpleasant,'' said Jessie.

"I think I can give you four points for that, Jessie,'' said May. "It means to scorn or deride, to jeer or taunt. None of those are very nice.''

Jessie, looking pleased with herself, chose the word euxanthin.''

“I rather think it might have something to do with medicine,” said May.

“I also think it is a chemical word, and perhaps to do with ingredients in paint,” said Muriel.

“I think it might relate to being exalted in some way,” said Margaret.

'“I think I will give five points to Muriel,'' said Jessie. "It is a yellow pigment made from the urine of animals fed on mangoes.”

“Oh, you didn’t need to go into detail,'' said Margaret, offended by the word urine.

“Don’t be so sensitive,'' said Muriel. "We all know the meaning of urine. But is euxanthin a foreign word?''

"It has a foreign derivation.'' Jessie admitted. "The pigment comes from India and China.''

Eventually it was time to add up the scores and announce a winner. To Muriel's embarrassment she found that she had the most points.

"I expect you looked at he words on every page opposite a coloured plate,'' May said with a sly smile.

"I most certaily did not,'' said Muriel heatedly. "However, since I bought the prize I cannot present it to myself, so it must go to Jessie.''

Jessie blushed as she opened the prize, a book entitled The Modern Hoyle which gave instructions on how to play various games. As a member of a game-playing family she was delighted to receive the book.

So the evening came to a conclusion, and Muriel was well pleased with her party as she went off to bed.