The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-04-23 00:00:00, page 2

sure with profit, finds, amid his lowing
herds, bleating sheep, and flushing
fields, an excitement to the task of the
coining dav.
I cannot conclude this paper without
exhorting, with emphasis, every studi- I
ous. every sedentary, and every contem- i
pl'itive mm to get up early, and thus to !
iincl time for live accomplishm at ofboth |
profit;'.’be and pleasurable pnrpos. s.
though we cannot literally, like the 1
4 Orientals, gather k4 a cl is ter of c 7 tpl, bv
’m tnc vineyards of Iingedi ;*’ thou ’,h
'Ve cannot repair to 44 the mountain of
■ :yrr/i, an 1 to the hill oi'j'ran&rnceu-se
... . * (' ; •
I'cdvi o in our s ales, mr nb./jw.v,” nor j
men,'' scent our groves yet even !
:u this western wild, we in.tv Iincl the |
-by of the vahies, and the rose of fra- 1
g’.ance. Let its, th ivforc, forsaking j
a verislx Ire' .1.; ol the m rning pi)- 1
■ ’1 shak • ox! t xe enfeebling chains of
' hath, 44 ami go down into the garden to
: eel in tbv gardens, and to gather like -.”
•d t us ins , 1144 the fruits of the vall< .,”
;. 1 1 " see whether the vines flourish.*
.by th ■ *• rivers of waters"’ k t us walk,
•mu expatiate throw rh the lealV cl .-istvru
• n t.xe 1 e 111 pie 02 is.itiuv.
F:r tic V. it l:n% Ft pattern.
}.n p !. fix a, if J.; : -'bi nd -.
1* cleanser, fixes, and gives light.
THE difficulty cf fxtng tlic oitho- i
g.v. h - a id proxux cl a-.ion ui ihc ii igh. h i
? c has long b in :i copious theme
ter complaint. Of the many schemes
which have been suggest d for the
purpose of producing an uniformity in
these branches of school learning, there
is one which appears not to Lave had a
fair trial. I ailude to that which was
proposed a few years ago by Dr. Thorn
ton > out it was not, it seems, si.fikier.t
ly correct to make us way, on a . uddtn,
vr dnstthe prejudices oi the learned and
the tiir.i iuy of the ignorant ; and the
want of suitable types adapted to the
occasion, is, alone, suffici.nt to destroy
all hop ... i s Jyt". ’d'.tal iiuroducti ^n.
V\ ii'n ot examining, at this time, tlie
cov.sctp.ien--.es of such a scheme, in rc
1 all on to tie* universal language which
•' omc cannot lefi ve w >uM flow froir. it,
an 1 which ct’u rs f ear 1 ;t us con
sider it merely as it respects die ortho
graphy of our language in the present
day.
i shall not spend time in reviling that
suiter, of orthography row in voimc,
i which, though universally adopted is nc
\ ver learned. I say never learned, because
I have rarely, if ever, seen two persons,
whatever education they may have re
ceived, who spell “ at all points” alike.
And of the multitude who have correct
ideas of things, and who express their
th ughts with case and propriety when
they tnl/:, how many arc th rc who nor
r .windy find this first br im h of educ. -
:o 1 tiie most embarrassir. ; of all . - ;
thers/
it has l eer, remarked by a man to
wiiosc labours all our schools are much
indebted, however reluctantly this enn
iessicn would, l v many, be made, that
u in a perfect language, every simple
sound v, ould be expressed hv a distinct
chnraet- r; and no character would have
' n . nd. But i nguag< s are
n u ihtus p-. riect ; ar.d the Knglish lan
guage iii . ucul tr, is, in these respects,
extremely irr. gular.” The scheme 1
mu going- to i '.i.i'jit is grounded upon
t'. -i s.-.nti.n. nt, and in pursuance of the
louts often-d in the Cadmus.
In the Itplace, then, there appear
t j be eleven distinct sounds, which mnv
be clu i d as vowels, because every word
the i'nglish language r >nlains one or
i ’.oie oi th_m, and netause there is no
di tinct sound, required by oui language,
wbiclt is not l'ound in one of these_
1 lte.se eleven vowel sounds require ap
| i riate names and characters bv which
t!. y may be handled a ,;i known bv th •
ey —1 lie following characters will :u>
sv. cr : v. x a c c i \i o d u a, and their
coaiufi will be found in the Italic parts
ol the words sent’, sun, sat, slate, sit,
hit, ; iepe, sc ft, drew, fnv.
hoiv in order to combine them in such
a manner as to express every s' und iii a
language, the help of twenty-three let
ters L necessary. To possess suitable
representatives for these twentv-thre
letters, 1 retain seventeen of the old Al
ii babel,—giving to each its particular
powev, and confining it cn in Iv to a sin
gle service. Tl;03e thus r tained, and
whose powers are already known, are
b d f g nklmnprstv \v v z. We
are still in want ol six characters to re
present sh in shawl, s in treasure, th in
thus, th in thaw, wh in wharf, w, or ra
tlier ng, in tongues. Tire scheme will
show that we have adopted ut lor the
sh, j lor the s sound in treasure, &r. a for
th in thus, q forth in thaw, tyr. j for v. h,
and j for n or r.g in tongues, ike.
As we have excluded from our new
alphabet the eld c- q, and x, as euper
riuov.. representatives of the s or k, kw
and k?,:-nd as we have need of them in
this scheme as marks, or letters, we re
tain these characters, but give them new
powers. Care must therefore be taken,
no* to cor.iound their new powers with
their former ones,
But instead of calling, either of the cha
ract.rs by any audible i\ame, let ihe
learner find its value by tracing it thro’
the following scheme, which will give
him n truer idea, and enable him to use
it v ith more certainty and facility, than
by calling it liv ant/ mane whatever. For
instance, to find the power of a vowel, I
choose a word in which it is known to
be, and after pronouncing the word dis
tinctly, I deliberately separate from it
all its m ighbour-consonants : thus to
find the value or power of a, I take the
word jv//,ar.d ••ft- r pronouncing it aloud,
I cautiously try to whisper that part of
the word rat whi h precedt s the a; then
with my eye fixed upon it, I utter aloud
that sound which precedes the t sound,
and then continue to whisper the re
mainder ol the word ra-f. For the same
purpose, contrariwise, to discover ll-c
value oi any consonant, as r, I pronounce
a word in which it is surrounded by o
thcr letters, as jin/. After audibly ut
tering tu 1 ch. ck my voice and whispt r
to myse If all that precedes the y sound.
In this manner to follow a vowel thro*
every word in its own perpendicular co
lumn, one w ill find its true value as con;
' ;ned with every consonant ; and in like,
manner, to pursue a consonant through
every word in its (horizontal) line, one
will discover its true value as combined
w ith cv< ry vowel. Such as are familiar
wiili numbers will find the following an
easy rule to discover the values of let
ters :
law — 1 — aw — r
law l — aw ~ 1
It! J — ad, &c.
Aiui in this manner, if 1 am not mista
krn, any person, of common capacity,
might be taught all the characters and
tlu ir powers, in one or two hours; after
'.'hich and a little practice, I will under
take to affirm that he will write the lan
guage with more readiness and correct
n w. than he could spell words in the
common way after being some years at
school.
In stenography if the “ most expediti
on., and concise mcthodof spelling,which
is consistent with perspicuity, he the
he: there is certainly some reason for
preferring the method now proposed#—