The word _Lamiger_, which
signifies an invalid, I have no doubt you have met with. When any
one forbodes bad weather, or any disaster, it is very common to
say _Don't ye housenee_. Here you have the verbal
termination, which you remarked was so common in the West, and
which I cannot help thinking might have been originally vised as a
sort of diminutive, and that _to milkee_, signified to milk
_a little_.
As my knowledge of these few words is merely oral, I cannot answer
for the orthography; I have endeavoured to go as near the sound as
possible, and I only wish it were in my power to make some
communication more worth your attention. As it is, I have only my
best wishes to offer for the success of your truly original work.
I am, Sir, your most obedient,
Elizabeth Ham.
I have only one or two remarks to add to those of Miss Ham in the
preceding letter.
It will be seen, by reference to the exemplifications of the
dialect, that occasional _pleonasm_ will be found in it, as
well as, very often, extraordinary _contraction_.
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