Noted for not sounding their H's

CHAPTER VIII

EGYPT-ISRAELITISH AND ANGLO-SAXON EMBLEMS

 

"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors." A souvenir of this coat of many colors which Jacob made for Joseph is still found in the many-colored plaid, as worn by the Scotch Highlanders, not only at home, but by Highlander societies, which exist in nearly every large Anglo-Saxon city. The use of this van-colored plaid, and the custom of wearing it, can be traced as far back as the Scottish people have any history, and yet its origin among them is unknown; that is, it was unknown until they began to know that they were the descendants of Joseph.

Also, once upon a time, the Gileadites were at war with Ephraim-Israel, "and the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites; and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto them, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth, and he said, s-iboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right." The Ephraimites seem to have had trouble to pronounce the letter h, and many of Ephraim's peopIe still have trouble with their h's, especially the modern "Cockney."