Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-06-11
For the Nashville tally P-triot.
Free schools Of Nashville.

no. IL.
i In my last / promised to look at some OF
the errors of the new spelling book. Web
ster, in his old spelling book, used thirty
years ago, says Faithfully, q has the power
of K, and is always followed by n, as in ques-
ton" The new author says, 20 has no ele-
ment peculiar to itself. With AZ, by which 1t
is always followed, it commonly represents
the sound of k,r, as in quaf. quilt, quothi but
in many words derived from French it has
the sound of K, rs in coquet, etiquet,i DC.
Here the author uses long, tedious, obscure
! explanation to ieaeh-that which is not true
| Webster, in clear. concise language, tells the
| truth. the whole truth, and nothing but the
TRUTH 3hat has the power of K. What a
| difference in the labor of the learner, in the
memorising of such authors. Had the new
author observed that in quilt, has the pow
er or sound of 10, he would have seen the
has exactly the power of K in quilt, coquet,
aud all other words.
Again: "1eh has one element, as in what.
when, whip Here he teaches error and be-
trays ignorance, by not observing that, in
pronouncing 1raen the and h are transposed,
thus, h.rai. These letters represent not one,
but two entirely distinct po.ers, and have
the same sounds in icken as in the two words he
and triH Pronounce slowly the word rren, and
afterwards h,re., and the true sounds will be
perceived.
He calls a vowel, simply because father,
grandfather, and aunt Polly said so. do
not ask aunt Polly what she says. ask
what is the actual sound of /. Pronounce
slowly several times over the letter i, and it
will be perceived that it is as pure 4 dip
thong as there is in the language, the first
sound being nearly that of the Italian a, and
the last an obscure sound Of e. Why waste
the time to teach children such errors, that
must afterwards be unlearned.
Like most things connected with this in
stitution, the introduction of these spelling
books is attended by some singular circum-
stances. 1t places in the schools four spell
ing books, viz: Towers Primer. Webster's
Elementary, Parker and Watson's small, and
do. large.
If webster's is good, why have new
one, and if bad, why not make clean sweep
and get rid of all Webster's at once, and sup
ply their place with good ones, and not have
the confusion, trouble and expense cOnse-
quent on the use of them all / am told the
first class in the Grammar School is using the
| small new book, in the new way Of teaching.
but that the second class is not advanced
| enough, and must go through Webster first.
| This is very strange, that child who
| has been studying grammar and geography
three or four years is not advanced enough
, must learn to spell cat and rat, and when be
has gone through the Primer, he is advanced
| enough to spell cat and rat in Webster, at the
end of another year he is ready 10 spell cat
and rat. in Parker and Watson's small and
at the end of The year he can sIell cat and
rat, in Parker and Wstson's large spelling
| book. And be it remembered, the small con-
| tains all the instruction and all the spelling
lessons in the large, strange as it may seem
1t may be owing to the dizziness of my per-
| ception aud the weakness of my intellect, but
| it does really appear to me. that one spelling
| book could be selected that would last as
| long as a boy would need one.
When Webster's spelling books can be
bought at eight cents each, by the dozen,
and retailed at dime. it leaves but smalle
margin of profit, while Parker's at twenty
or thirty-fve cents, must leave much large
J profits. These are interesting facts to pub.
| fishers, but / am in favor of adopting
{ q more common sense mode which
will hereafter point out, but which spelling
| can be taught in one fourth the time now
| consumed, and it is consumed in way that
has no tendency to improve, but greatly to
| injure the intellect.
! Among the multiplicity of reports that
have been put in circulation TO weaken the
force of my articles, is, that am seeking to
| be Superintendent. This is too bad, for they
are weak enough already. but rish IL distinct
lylsdersiood that IsoilE not accept that any ote,
office in The city. All the office lever wish i
such as l have always made for myself-thai
of teacher on my own responsibility. +
J. w. DoIBEAR.
| =