Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-08-24
ALEXANDRIA,:
MONDAY. AUGUST "a, 1918.

ell. Mr.. NepsteT Wds tne uiot "'''i "
American revolution, who turned his atten-
ton to the business Of writing school books.
| But the scheme Of pronunciation and the
| classification Of the words in his Spelling
book are modelled on theplan OF Sherldan's
and Entick's dictionaries, and the oriho-
graphy in many respects is his own. Per-
haps these authorities, at that time, might
have been considered satisfactory but
long after the publication of Mr.. Webster's
book, the indefatigable Walker published
his unrivalled Dictionary, and which II Is
| but Justice to say, has done more towards
establishing correct and uniform pronun-
| citation Of the English language than any
other book which has been presented to
the public. The principles as1 rules Tor
pronunciation in his work, are SO perfectly
simple and analogous, and his photography
so generally correct, that 1t is desirable
our elementary books should be modelled
on his plan. His Dictionary is by far the
most generally used in the United States,
and is considered the best in most OF our
literary ir .iitutons. And as this is the
fact, we do not see why our elementary
school books should not accord with it,
This would certainly be consistent, and
would doubtless secure a greater progress
in language. Our youth should be taught
to spell and pronounce their words correct
ly in the first stages Of their learning -
Good habits may as easily be acquired as
bad ones, and when once acquired they are
as permanent as useful but when bad ones
: become familiar to the mind, the difficulty
OF Graduating them is almost insurmounta-
bic. Children, well taught at first, have
nothing to unlearn their progress will be
pleasant and rapid but when error is
! blended with early instruction, little or no
improvement is to be expected.-The jar
ring difference in the vowel and diph-
I thongal sounds, and the orttpg raphy Of
words, are as various as the book-makers.
Every individual is dictated by his own no.
tons. The local usage Of Fan, however
corrupt, is considered the criterion, and
the illiterate are most pleased with it be-
cause it is the most familiar to them. But.
as our language has assumed systematic and
regular meditation, it is important that it
should be taught in its genuine purity in all
our schools. The child's first book, there
fore, ought TO contain the outlines Of his
dictionary the accent, The spelling, &c.
should be the same. When this is the case
he has nothing to unlearn his improve
ment is consequently facilitated, and a cor
rect knowledge of the elements OF the
language attained.
We have been led TO these observations
from perusing the american school-ctass-
books, by .Messrs 4 &. W. Picket, princi-
pals ofhat celebrated Institution, the Man
haitian school, in .New-York The above
observations apply to all Of their books, and
more particularly to the Juvenile Spelling
Book, work admirably adapted TO young
minds. The lessons for spelling are so ju-
diciously methodized that the precise sound
Of the words can be acquired without Civ
ing the second notation, as is done by Mr.
Walker in his Dictionary This we consi-
der an invaluable improvement. The words
appear in their simple form, but are so
cassed that their exact pronunciation is at
once perceived. BY this natural method,
the elegant pronunciation of Mr. Walker is
at once pointed out by the analogy OF
sounds. This adds much to the excellency
Of this little book; the child gets the sound
of the words without being perplexed with
figures or other arbitrary directions.
The reading lessons, so necessary in
schools, are selected with great judgment,
and are well adapted to instruction. In
deed no book in our language contains a
better selection of matter, or is better ar
ranged for the use of schools and what
gives it decided preference is, il contains
about one third more than any school book
at the price, which is 2 dollars per dozen,
or 25 cents single.-All the American
school.class- books are, in our opinion, far
more valuable than any in the language.
These gentlemen, who have long been en-
gagged in the highly honorable profession of
instructing youth, and are well known TO
the literary world as scholars and authors.
have engaged in the publication Of lite
rary work, entitled the .academician, which
makes its appearance semi-monthly, at 3
m hos rnraiyaI