The Kansas herald of freedom. [volume] (Wakarusa, Kan. Territory) 1854-1860, 1858-12-11
Wiscciiapeops.
Learning to Read by Phono,opy.

unaue PROMINENT III the eyes OF the natlOn
as the residence of the Hon. n. P. Banks,
the Governor elect of Massachusetts,, is
remarkable for other reasons. 1t was the
seat of the first cotton mandatory in
America, an establishment still in full
operation. On the opposite side of the
Charles river was erected one of the first,
if not the first, oil of vitriol factories in
the country, which now turns out nine
millions of pounds of vitriol per annum.
A little further up the river, also ON the
south side, stands the only watch factory
in the world, where first quality Swiss
watches and English watch cases are
made by twelve horse power steam en-
CINE. On the other side of the river re-
Gently stood the Benzole Factory, in which
Luther Atwood made the best benzole in
the world. Blackboard Crayons, free from
grit and from gluten, were invented in
Waltham by DIR. Field, and are made no.
where else. Messrs. Peters & Moore, and
7. A. Powell & Co., now manufacture
them for all parts of the Union. Another
mechanic of that town, Mr.. A. L. Jewell,
rivals the Berlin founders in iron work,
and is, moreover, the only person in the
world who manufactures ready polished
currier steels that can be used without re-
polishing and re-tempering. Still anoth-
er unique point in Waltham is, that it
possesses the only machine in the world
that will calculate solar eclipse the
Smithsonian Institution are now printing
chart of the solar eclipse of next March,
projected by that machine.
True to their instincts of being unlike
all the world, the Waltham people, insti-
gated by Thomas Ranney, and encouraged
by F. III. Stone, Esq, of their School Com
mittee. introduced, some six years since,
books printed in phonetic type into their
public schools, and such books have been
used in those schools to the present hour.
The experiment was also greatly favored
by Cyrus Pierce, who is known and hon
ored among all persons interested in edu-
cation as father Pierce.
Six years use Of the system in all the
public schools of town containing nine
hundred children between the ages OF five
and fifteen, is the best test that has vet
been made of the probability of using
phonetic print as an Introduction to COM
mon print, and we thought it might be
worth while to give the readers of the
Tribune fair statement of the results of
that experiment.
1t has proved both failure and sue
cess. Many parents have opposed it Bit
terly, and many teachers have used it in
efficiently. Some of the Catholics have
denounced it as piece of Protestant
Jesuitism to smuggle heresy into their
children's minds, yelled by these unknown
letters. Some of the conservative Protes-
tants have denounced it as radical mea-
sure, smelling of ultraism. Under such
circumstances, and especially in the lack
OF teachers who seized and appreciated
the peculiar spirit Of the method, the pho
notype has certainly failed in Waltham to
teach children in so brief time as its
friends hoped, to read common print well.
A teacher in love with the scheme can un-
doubtedly perform wonders with it; but
the ordinary teachers employed in the
public schools will not do so much. New
ertheless, there is marked saving of time
from using phonotopy, even as taught by
ordinary teachers. The scholarship of the
children in Waltham has greatly i'm
proved, while the hours of teaching have
been diminished. The use of phonotopy
has not saved two years time as was ex-
pected, but it has saved six months or q
year in each child's life.
In other respects it has proved a com.
plete success. It improves the spelling OF
the pupils. We are not joking. We do
not mean that it teaches the child to write
wright, rite, but by calling his attention
.forcibly to the oddness of our so-called
orthography, it fixes the strange combina-
tons of letters in his memory. 1t i'm
proves the reading of the pupils. Read
ing is earlier pleasure, and therefore
more likely to be natural. Itparticularly
improves the pronunciation, taking the
brogue out of the Irish boy and the twar G
out of the Yankee. Go into the Waltham
schools, and listen to class of readers,
and you can at once tell, BY the pronun-
citation of morning or mawning, how OF
haoo, first or fuss, which children have
obeen long in Waltham schools, and which
entered at an advanced age from Other
towns. The phonetic drill also develops
the strength of voice and lungs in valu-
able manner, as itrequires strong effort
TO utter the whispered consonants forci.
bly,. Other advantages are perceived, fol-
lowing the pupil through ell his course,
sThsreis a tendency in this analysis, ol
ssounds to lead to habits of accuracy and
of attention to detail habits ehish are
usually sadly wanting inloar eOa1fzs.
On the whole, therefore. the F6ltharn
people are determined to confaRe this
EXPERIMENT. of rops &c tsachihg sun furth-
er. They felt Slslsulasly encouraged SO
ito do when, feE n5aIhs ago. the Inn,
N. P. Banks, at tue p46l btAMihatidn Of
the Grammar School, said he had never