IT is a matter of history that a generous segment of Pennsylvania lying below the Allegheny river once belonged to the old state of Virginia. The fondest boast of certain old families now living in this region is that they are descended from Old Virginian stock. Thus the southern tradition is still alive. The majority of settlers, however, were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who brought the stern theology and the independence of the Scottish kirk over the mountains long before the Revolution. Thus the Whiskey Rebellion exemplified their independence of tax-levying governments, the same intolerance of outside interference all Celts have manifested since history began. They are still somewhat unmoved by what the world outside is doing. They change only as they wish to change. In later times the Germans of the east, attracted by the fertile farm lands, gained a slight hold on the soil. Their descendants have been well assimilated, and retain but little of their Teutonic inheritance except their names. More recently still, since these farms lands were found to hide a wealth of coal, oil, and gas, aliens of all nationalities have come in, but have not been generally absorbed, forming a definite social cast of a lower order. It is natural, then, that the dialect of this part of Pennsylvania should reveal a variety of word-forms, pronunciations, and inflections, the result of this somewhat diverse origin. We find the influence of the South, not only by its proximity and absorption, but through the high percentage of negroes who were left stranded here by the Underground Railroad. There is some effect of the Middle-West, particularly the Ohio Valley. Some expressions are definitely relies of Pennsylvania German speech. The inflection, however, is mainly Celtic and Caledonian, and it is this important element which cannot appear in a discussion of this kind. It will require nothing less than phonographic recording to do it justice. It is characterized by odd curves of pitch and tone, a question, for example, rising where one would expect it to fall, and descending at the most unexpected places. The recorder must come soon, though, because the younger generation is fast becoming speech-conscious and untrue to local traditions, perhaps through the influence of eastern preparatory schools and colleges. 18