Help me, Will

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Dkipen at aol.com writes:
> Another interesting guess, but sorry. Perhaps "near-synonym" is misleading.
> "Readily interchangeable cousin" comes nearer the mark.

Well, I'll hit it by dint of enumeration eventually so this will be my
third and last try.  Presumably you capitalised the nouns, no? I'll
buy more thinking time by noting how incredibly Pynchonian (if not
even Rabelaisian), how impressively GR-like, how terribly
un-Vinelandish this paragraph is. And in particular who but Pynchon
would write

    proceed, as upon each afternoon all this snowy Winter, to . . .

That `each ... all' construction rings some bells.

I don't understand the preceding fragment

    the Children, having all upon the Fly, among rhythmic slaps of
    Batter and Spoon, coax'd and stolen what they might, proceed, as
    upon each afternoon all this snowy Winter, to a comfortable

What exactly is that Fly doing?

Anyway, my third and final guess is that the Children were named by
some other word (doubtless just as sticky with Sweets) in the
original?


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.