, 1865-10-21


misty mountain tops. kggain our banners
hoatin peaceful breeze: and as II comes
from the sunny Bouth-nG nars laden with
the wrongs OF an enslayea peop1e-let each
man grasp the hand Of his fellow In enduring
friendship and pray Tod tia. s'pfaee may have
her victories, no less renowned than war"
POPULAR EDUCATION.
ts:;C- ,SuaB=R SKI 49, /,
BrIef History of photographic Reforms
--Dr. Johnson's Hostility to Chan.c-
" What Webster Did and did Not--
Walkers NIcthot1&-FFaMIkQu,. Sch crue
--nr.. Kuala on the .yote4--PIsmau,s
Phonetic System.-Propor1on OF Good
Spe1ler*~-Necesslty for n Rcform.
Editors Chicago Tribune:
From The days Of Milton II the present
time the subject Of orthographi: reform has
occupied the thoughts of educators and phi.
lanthroplsts. Our present English tongue Is
a mode IN language. The original language
was Celtic, which was more or les destroyed
during the Roman occupation. About the
year 448, the Romans finally evacuated Brit
ain. The degenerate inhabitants Of South
Britain, after the Roman legioos withdrew,
unable to defend themselves against the Scots
and Picts Of North Britain, applied to the
German tribes called Sa1ons and Angles to
come to their assistance aud sepel the Scots
and P1cts- The Anglo-Saxona accepted the
invitation, drove ont the Scots, bnt, In turn,
reduced the natives to submission and took
possession Of South Britain, and held 1t until
the battle Of Hastings, fp 1866, when tue
island fell into the bands of the Norman
French. I,nr,np the 900 yenrs Of occupation
by the sa3ons, the1f !ansuage vas saostiIu:- l:
ted for the original Gcstac' sihe Ansh-sa2oas
dropped the Runic and adopted tho Roman
alphabet, with few alterations. and intro
NV uusea ",.a ttat ~, en~an .caz,an tonn1,o
this per1od that tne sa2on'Getman Tongue
became the Verntcu1af cI sontn h1taln.
Literature, however, Was in crude statc;
The Sosma11s introduced Frcnch-L Latin, and
cpgrofted It on tue Ang1o-saron language.
We always give Latin word French iorn'
aud then angllcize according to the usual all-
alorfes. Greek words IRE flrst made Latin,
tt..s, 1sr.,., ,r,, tha, Fnr71ab Prof. A. J.
E,,,. .:.S.. aIn rnn1a,5 Il. ot,o,naf Rnntc
letters Of the Apglo-sa1ous were gradually
tfspscd, and their place supplied, very impes-
c,,t1r .r;t,, Roman letters. With great yari-
4s'uy. ..-.s" -. ~. nccaaza,,,v orc,t
cry ol um.e .,,,. .np Th.rs ,.aa ~ a., A.,
variety Of spenins. 1hen canie .ne t>otulau
aIrrof1r mixed. and rulors who were Ignorant
r.. u,,t,,. ~ tha .,.,.
OF saxon' aence noss !. m,u 'n's.uip ~ ~, .ea
guagc and eonlusson III spoling, LOT e'ef6a.
of Saxon origin wrote words half Saxon and
half French and olhers Of Norman extraction
nnvv1aa ovcr tho saxon words. Ar 1enptt1. a.
Nv. r"a IS"s,ssa hsooroa tsororr,,v f7sea ,,,to
Tue ians uugs oceuae too.u"sug 1uSs. ~
English and taymcn ieafnea 10 "fne ana tf1ea
their hands ut RpellIng-principally their Owl
names, howeycr-all rule seemed to be broken
ln'ouen. aaG s".ne a,ma. ~ "e paan,d ia
were "s1lten u a'nefcnt why's. reopie ola
not seem certain about The ortaography o.
| their own names.' The language 400 years
oro Voc nrononnceff yer7 differently from vhat
y. ~ :. w. n..,r ana thc snc1,in9 VIVA nhonet1c at.
tempt at Its pronunciation. as there were
but f}sc vowel letters to accommodate sixteen
vcwcl and dsnhthonr sounds, all sorts ot d.
,,..,,,,. e,,5 co1,h,na linn. were Invented by
G.rpAe ""a "...'a ,.,,. 49, rao;7n .nI
ahiefent "s'eks' sos's ee'as' ee47 "o'} W.
turc Of them all, We have changed the old
| proh1neaa'aon " l., ueag ~ 49,. ~" t,,s
Gus, pu1 te'u'a1 ~ 6le1' 1' ~ nv
old, crade,. mlxed-up spenlng. lhe
consequence Is that our orthosfaphy
| learner Is Obliged to 1nemorizc the spelling ot
nearly cyery word. Words derived from the
Latin and Greek through the French, ere not
80 Irregular and 1awlcss Ia their spelling 81
Saxon words, rs the old monks understood
! the classics aud preserved the orthography to
Eome extent, Of The Latin and Greek words.
Elo-saron, md It's or1hog.aphy Is perfectly
chaotic, and imperatively calls for retosm..
Dr. johnson, 100 years ago, complained
most bitterly Of the abomluable condition d
English orthography, but he refused to makt
any changes for the better, and rejected the
! poet Aiilton,s spelling Of the word 'shcight.' =
Tle root being spelled high, Milton, says
johnson, ain Els zeal for analogy. writel
bIrbtr-rcIecting the silent and useless e, but
which johnson restores, quoting the Latlr
phrase "Quid te exemta juvat spfnls dc pluri.
bus uua,'' How are you adSantaged BY r.
moving solitary thorn from multitude,
much. aud TO change one Is nothing" Dr.
| Webster, seventy years later, ventured TO re-
move 4 few hundred of the stthorn5," hut lcf
lens Of thopsanils Of others Remaining IN tht
acsh, to phin and distress the AnSlo-Saxo1
raee: .n,.,,on. Al
spells the words according t0 usage, aud thc1
theoretically, as nearly as ouK detective alpha
bet will permit, In order to convey to tht
reader come idea Of their true pronunciation
But this substitute Is the seserest condemna
tiop Of the present orthography, and an In
answc1ablc arEn,nent L. taser *f = reform. @
Dr. Webster 1f1ectea atefe p suea wore sl
as music, pubic. ana tfoM non, Monol, estGE
1,,iot mn'Sn Son ho5our u erronp We5stes saws tha
ne hnal aa u sre1 ~ "orn; 1,;ea as RSt
locu'ne, sa9asa ~ o as S nn ~ w.
,eamns to .a.sn 4qe a1en asn,cnns - -
lasmS etynS.og; g;. H. o no, suu :, T., ,,n.n. - :,
htaclee o. ensuglag H. tha % n;,ro1 ~ ~" ritx
tae sinSnI nf.;as so am;,sa ~ cn,tsp3inn thot ths
shoaid @ Be spsiIsd eiiys, dutys Il Y rsga{S s.! !;