Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-01-19
ANSWER TO QUIZ.

Due thanks to Quiz for his partial approval o
the circular over my signature, and not less for hi,
dissent.
Regarding the "parenthetical' suggestion,
will say very little at this time, nor is it needed
Tor 1t he believes as | do, that we arc launched in
to life with equal natural rights, if those we now
call rights are unequal, there must be a cause 70,
the existing inequality, and if that cause is in ma
ture, then nature must con hict with itself. ] know
OF the inequalities. and ar incliued to attribute
them to a departure from nature; but it may be
premature to enter on a labored discussion from O
mere suggestion, though | should not be averse tc
it, If believed it pertained to the main subject
which is a thorough practical education fer oil
without regard to class, colcr, sect or sex.
On the spelling question l know not what to say
Tor the simple reason that self evident truth is un.
demonstrable. lIo who does not perceive Mt n
glance, that $4,000 words SPELLED with characters
whose names and powers are the same, and which
never vary, is preferable to q systems of signs
whose names and powers are so different that the
consonant portion enter not into any word, has
never looked beyond Authority. Why does Quiz
tell us Of the writers who have used our ortborra-
ply for centuries? Would their thoughts have
been less valuable if transmitted thr ugh a medi.
um less perplexing to them, and more Ineligible
to us? Five plated stoves, and wooden ploucbs.
warmed more people, and turned up more soil than
modern improvements in those articles have done,
or will soon do. Time honored sanction is coming
into disuse. Speed it on.
With regard to Grammar, I have no Substitute
4 tHnr 81, $3.50
substitutes having bought q copy of every new
treatise on the subject, for many years, hoping at
every purchase, l should find something rational
and Notwithstanding based in natural fit
ness, but never found it. Murray said that to
Walk, Run, Swim and Fly, were neutcr verbs be.
cause they had no object. Comfy said they were
Active, but lntransitive, because they had no OBJ
Ject. Murray approved the correction, and subse-
quent compilers adopted Comly's Transitive and
lntransitive system. There have been divers chan.
gcs in arrangement, phraseology &C., without any
advance in structural knowledge. He who reflects
on the character of words whether names of thinrs
Actions, Prophecies &c., will perceive that they
all arbitrary,-have no natural appropriate.
ness.
l am forced to the conclusion that rrnmmar. rs
any where is a mass Of verbiare. of course
that the time and thought bestowed on the subject.
sheer waste. If we were all Methusalems. il
might be excusable; but three score and ten wears
do not more than suffice to learn the Useful.
VIII it not be granted that the shortest road fall
other things being equal) is the best?
As science and art lead to new discoveries. there
must be new words to represent them. In our
some say there are fifty, and others that
here are eighty thousand words. Early, perbans.
he necessity was felt Of abbreviating forms of ex-
pression;hcnce Adverbs Conjuncticns, &c, hence too.
he Regular verb. More of this kind Of work needs
% be done, and would soon he done, were it not
or the spirit OF conservatism, which frequently
ails to discriminate between things intrinsically
good, and those which have no other merit than
of the past.
In our language there is no use for more than
me Pronoun for each of the persons. This cam
lot fail to be seen when You in addressing the
'econd person serves equally for Nominative and
case. IL the same, without confusion. or
What is better, without possibility Of erring. Thus
would be superseded.
There is no possible use in q changed form of
he verb to suit the different persons. This is OBJ.
nous from the fact that in the Imperfect past the
ocular verbs are uniform. Nothing need be said
o prove that Irregular verbs outrage common
Elk. l go, went, l had gone.
The foregoing changes adopted, the balance of
may be written on a sheet of paper.
No doubt this will be pronounced wild innova.
ION. Wish it may, and that some competent gra-
marian would assail it with earnestness, and seve.
if such be his taste.
The invitation is general, but an especial eye is
urned to Salem from the knowledge that in it are
hose who are expert and profound in constituting
The invitation is not given from conf.
ence IN my ability to sustain even q good cause,
ut from the Importance of having the minds Of
directed to the subject.
AMOS GILBERT.