The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-08-27

wit nor education, determined TO tsiab-
fish Southern literature, and 10 this
end devised a grand scheme Of Southern
education. As 4 part OF this ambitious
scheme,--as ambitious rs would be the
schtme Of a negro on a cotton plantation
who could neither read nor writ, 10
translate PLATO or SENECA, several school
books were published To show what
points Of superiority these works pos
sessed over European and Eastern prbi-
cations, we will very briefly notice ole Of
the elementary works, leaving the irea-
tises on more profound subjects for a
future review. Il is safe 70 say, also,
that in this case the beginning will char
aoterize the whole series. If teacher
blunder at the very threshhold Of his
profession, IL is impossible that be can
be successful in the inner chambers Of
the temple OF knowledge. A man who
is ignorant # multiplication, subtraction,
and division, cannot be fine algebraist.
The little volume on our table is called
the SEooND CosFEDERATE sPELLER The
very TILE Of the book proves II TO be
catch penny concern; it is the trick of
travelling Snowman and in truth one
cannot read . circular of ELLIOTT, BALD
WHY & Co, without suspecting that al one
period of their lives they were agents,
and bhl-siickers for 4 travelling circus
and mrnagarie, where infant phenomena
galloped around the arena and variegatcd
clowns turned summersaults on spring.
boards, TIE titlepage tells US that this
SPELLED has "for its basis the phoneiics
and orthoepicsl rules Of the language in
which sre more than sir thousand pgimitiUe
'c0r2s" This tremendou task wa per-
formed by an ass citation Of Southern
teachers. The book is da,ed Nashville,
1861, and was published at the Methodist
Publishing House. TO show the literary
qualifications Of the men who tinkered
up his >peller, which was to make prodi-
ges Of all little Sou hern Tommys and
Sallys, we will quote the frs, sentence in
the book
" II is not expected that even those who
have the best opportunities for acquiring
knowledge, will learn correctly every
science, but il will be readily admitted
that SINE are of paramount Importance,
especially o those who have much inter-
course with olheys."
Did ever a school girls slip shod letter
contain such a confused and incxuicable
tumble Of prpnouns? This sentence is
abominable, but a few lines further on
we llnd one still worsei
The many inferior photographed
scholars do not ARISE go much from the
numher Of difficulties inherent in the
language as from the uaMettodicay man
ne they are presented in elementary books
! ( Uameth dical for in,meihodical; th,re is
no such word as the former
Who are presented, the scholars or th'
d!6icu'ties? As we read further on, baC
becomes worse, and wha, was merely
abominable becomes intoIerable. Her,
is sentence which would have made ole
LrEDi EY MURRAY whistle:
"The design of the present work is Z,
present in such a manner the primitiv,
words containing the substitutes of eacl
general sigi that has any to the Learners
a. will ,nahle them 10 determine az def.
nitely the extent of their photographer
as they can that Of any other science"
We give the punctuation Of this aston,
ishing string Of words as we End Il il
the book. The matter Of the Speller il
just what might be expected from its un,
grammatical and unintelligible preface
There is no arrang' ment in it, and is NJ
more comparable to WEBsTER's Spelling
Book than The Southern Conftderacy is t.
the Federal Government The "primi
tire words Of which lhe titlc-page anC
preface speak, are such words a. oryra
gmealogy, oonoatenate, optime,7diap, mermaid
eircttm'tancs and thousands like them
which every school boy knows are no
primitive words at all.
Perhaps some may ask, Why throw
away censure on So gross an imposture
True, the thing is neither rich nurraro,'
but'it Is just as fair, as honest and Al
meritorioua as any other hobby connected
with the great central pivot Of the South
ern COHfederscy. The whole scheme il
a great fraud and imposture, dependin,
for success upon The credulity and frenzy
Of the Southern people. We have de
voted space 10 this book, not for any in,
uinsic Importance il possessed, bet be
cause IL was part and parcel Of miser
able 50 stem Of humbuggery and deception
Does any man imagine that his privat,
business IS more important now, 20 hm
than the welfare Of his country. Forge
not ye men of business, that Il YOU
country die, your business and your pos
sessions will certainly die too, for in
land Of anarchy ihero is no business bui
that OF war, and no possessions but thos,
OF the military power. II you would
save your business and your goods, Brst
save your country, and then "all these
things shall be added unto You
! ---=--alIr---
A distinguished and omiuontly piou,
Methodist circuit.ridcr was once iusulieO
10y arullian, who finally began to offer hin
personal violence. The good parson, who