Gism (1901): something odd

[Mark Mandel]

I assume 'semen'. I've seen it written "jism".

m a m

On 9/18/07, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
>
> From Google Books:
>
> ----------
>
> E. D. Gillespie, _A Book of Remembrances_ (Lippincott, Philadelphia,
> 1901): p. 33:
>
> <<This so amused my mother and her sister, that on repeating the
> story to my grandmother she instantly wrote these verses: / ... /
> "Now, mother, when we wish to soar / And cut a dash at 'Bellespore,'
> / You will repeat some vulgarism, / What we call nectar you call gism.">>
>
> ----------
>
> This verse, ostensibly quoted from E. D. Gillespie's mother, would
> have been written around 1800, I think. The context: a bookish girl
> had claimed that her sister had gone out to read poetry ("Night
> Thoughts"), but their unpretentious mother had spoiled the illusion
> by saying that the girl had gone out to get "a mess of poke".
>
> I don't know what "Bellespore" means ("Belle Espoir"?).
>
> What does "gism" mean here?
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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