Sight Translation.

In an old file of the Nation is to be found a letter from one of the instructors of our French department, which was written to that paper for the purpose of showing with what ingenuity the sub-freshman overcomes obstacles which would appear insurmountable to a mind of ordinary ability. Many of the men whose genius flashes out in the following quotations are now in the junior class, - or possibly in the sophomore class, - for the examples of wild conjecture given below were called forth by a paper in entrance French which was given to candidates for admission a couple of years or so ago. Perhaps some undergraduate may recognize his own handiwork in the collection.

"The mistranslations given in the last number of the Nation brought to my mind some ingenuous mistakes which I noted while correcting the French paper set for the Harvard admission examinations last June. The 500 or more papers which were written contained every variety of mistake, but there were two sentences which were the special stumbling-ground. "La pauvre femme, sentent la raison de son mari, no bougea et se contenta d'ecarter un peu son rideau pour voir sortir, etc., gave rise to "fearing for the reason of her husband," and "appreciating the reason of his marriage," and the words "ecarter un peu son rideau" gave large opportunities to the guessers. Among the many mistranslations of these five words were the following: "She disobeyed his command," "she softened his rigor," "she shunned his bedside," "she opened her blinds," "she raised her head," "she polished her glasses" (common), "she listened to his reasons," "she lifted her eyelids," "she soothed her fears," "she checked her curiosity," "she moved her chair," "she joined in his laugh" (very common), "she broke her usual custom," "she stretched her neck out of the window," "she took up a small candle," "she threw on a light shawl," "she roughened her wrinkles," "she listened to her bird," "she kindled a fire in the brazier."

The second sentence was as follows: "Le pauvre garcon . . . se tournaitet retournait sur son coussin, envoyant de gros soupirs et gemissant sans pouvoir se reviellier." Naturally, in several instances, the poor boy was "reflecting about his cousin," but the prize for ingenuity goes in this translation of the italicized words: "dreaming of great suppers, and groaning without being able to relieve himself."