UNCONSCIOUS PERVERSIONS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sta,—Possibly you may think the following incident, related to me by a friend in a letter received last week, worthy of a place in your collection of unconscious perversions. I give it in the writer's own words :—" Did I tell you that when I was sketching at Wareham one day a small girl came and sat beside me on the grass ? We entered into conversation. Her left hand was bound up with a grubby bit of rag, so I said, Have you hurt your hand ?' She replied, No, but I have a sore foot,' and smiled with gentle satisfaction. My compassion was aroused and I asked further details. 'Why,' she said, 'I've only just come back from Dorset, where I've been in the 'ospital for ever such a time, and the doctor says I've got constitution all over my body.' I said, What ? ' She replied, with pardonable pride, Constitution all over my body, and the doctor says it's spreading." I confess I have not yet hit upon any plausible explanation of the word actually used by [Surely he said, "she has a bad constitution," and when pressed for details, added, "it is bad all through."—En. Spectator]
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