then they're the only words I know--how to speak. I've got other words
in my mind, picked 'em up from books, but I can't pronounce 'em, so I
don't use 'em."

"It isn't what you say, so much as how you say it. You don't mind my
being frank, do you? I don't want to hurt you."

"No, no," he cried, while he secretly blessed her for her kindness. "Fire
away. I've got to know, an' I'd sooner know from you than anybody else."

"Well, then, you say, 'You was'; it should be, 'You were.' You say 'I
seen' for 'I saw.' You use the double negative--"

"What's the double negative?" he demanded; then added humbly, "You see, I
don't even understand your explanations."

"I'm afraid I didn't explain that," she smiled. "A double negative
is--let me see--well, you say, 'never helped nobody.' 'Never' is a
negative. 'Nobody' is another negative. It is a rule that two negatives
make a positive. 'Never helped nobody' means that, not helping nobody,
they must have helped somebody."

"That's pretty clear," he said. "I never thought of it before. But it
don't mean they _must_ have helped somebody, does it? Seems to me that
'never helped nobody' just naturally fails to say whether or not they
helped somebody. I never thought of it before, and I'll never say it
again."

She was pleased and surprised with the quickness and surety of his mind.
As soon as he had got the clew he not only understood but corrected her