, 1870-04-24
SPELLING,


| tne fAloloSiesl Society has announced H.,
nlannon OF ehoft1y hanging forward for dis
as out " sat1 st spng ta s. reform
very likely e.e1aim, "spoiling! / know ho.
| to spell alrc&dy. Did We nod III Iearn II in IL,
fancy 1t Is the very Hrnt step We make into
70 realms Of literature. The 1lsst Lesson We
Sno Snt ne ehha n;a = IN spelling The tst book We
We want to describe very ignorant pc1son,
We say he cannot cvea spell Al this ss qniia
true: yet how many Of ua aro there who. evsn
N cur weary age, have attained TINT firm rest-
lng,rlaeo aspircd to By MiItou'a Tanseroso,
and prove to the. satisfaction Of our
ae1vea and otAers that wa do ao7
We iearu to spell as we learn to walk
and talk. by Initiating othcrH, not on any priu-
ciple; and this is found to answer VOL enough
sons Of certain education and aociA CON
dltton Dc, therefore, spell toletAbly well, ~
long as they do not think about it; but vhep
called upon to giro roason for their faith, or
to defend i against an attack from without,
they would usually be puzzled by tho chal.
admits Of so much di1aronce Of opinion, &ha
standard il 10 shifting xnd variable, that the
mort conscientious student can sometimes find
nothing better to 1efet to than ncre precedent
let, slnce as fashion changes in this Is in other
tadngs-.graaually and nln1ost imperccptlbly-
/
Ing the sauna worl often obtain almost to an
es1nal extent, Which Of these is the right
Wye Nov that competitive examination ts
tie door y ~ PUBLIC Careers, and spelling one
| OF sne sugJecss to 10 mastered, the question
becomes important 4 candidate may be
turned hsck, or denied his mA1ks in this ele
mcntaay requirement, simply becauso he hap
/ pcus TO differ in opinion from his examiner.
For example: A fashion haa been gaining
ground g1 Of late, but has hasaly deanltiSely o.
or, favor, exactly as In Latin; whereas al our
best dictionaries and classic authors insert :
| II, Is favour, honour. An equally good defence
may be set up for either. L says, ssAl1 tho
bert H!ite5s in the language spell I, ~i.h u"
That j. obeolets says . nodarn use de-.
from Latin" '.l do not deny that" replies
A; "but it has come to Us through
the French honneur, "a is shown
by tho accent Laid on the last syllable
10 early Engfish. hold by old precedent" In
the same way the final k-nox dfopped BY
co1nnon consent from the worda frantsc, fan-
eastic, htTtsic, ctc.-may be indicated bY an
appeal to tic Greek, where the oocura, or OBJ
jected to on the ground that nc took them
from the Latin, ~fiicl, has no l. That, IN fact,
these words catpc 70 us directly from tho
French u hardly to be doubted, "a in eazlier
days the last syllable invariably took the forra
OF f4le. Any clever or pe1yerse pupil, who
vas determined to turn the fank Of his tcAch-
er, might easi1y drive him into cosuer,
whence bis only escape would be By the ipse
tom. But then comes tho question, what Is
customf HoE long tune must it hsve cx-
lsted, and under what conditions, to render il
fa1r referee "a question Is unausuerablo u
that oi Horace concerning the sevaa yeans
prescribed as the 1ipening time Of a poona.
it's Owl merits. What length Of time, for az
ample: and what amount Of general accept
ance, decides the claim OF now or sling
word for admission into our dictionaries
Starvation aud capability it is
said: respectively by Dundas and by Brown,
the landscape 9Ardener,-took their p1aca at |
once IN cur tongue, while many word u
gbod md better has had 10 ietirc, or has suo-
cnnbed after short struggle for existonco; |
and others have only made good their hold br |
a.p1otrscted fight There was time uhen no |
abbrevisuon Of pcrisig or mobile would havs
been permitted IL dictionary or in any serious
work tho use Of either now-a-lays would be l
ptdAntic ard Tidiculous-,uob and wig being |
as firmly fixed III their place as cab and bus |
bld fair TO become instead Of cabriolct aud ON
i 51 i ae s 1nE to q sa as @:1 I'd
erecting standard by which all ahnll be meas
ured.
Up to 8 certain point-that is, az long "a
they are guided Iy pure empiticiAm.-To lind !
women spell better than men. Young ladies' Of
N4AS o4HAA2 3tAAtAA+$ 49, 0%N4Vt5 "Nuu
to spell a. badly AZ many Of their contempor1-
riea in the household brigade. Indeed, they are
commonly referred to IL authorities by their
brothers and cousins in orthograplica1 difficult
fiea. A young laay, coming into the room ono
day. when her brother aud i friend waso lahori-
ouhly concocting somewhat solemn epist}e, Was
eagerly appealed to-" How do you spell |
grateful - ''G~r-e-a-t doubla-o l." said tue
sancy girl "There! I told your" cried tho
friend, triumphantly> 1t would hardly be pos
,1o }S, trI4 fatta
u or Is such sentence "a wo haro ssen With
our cwr eyes in thzt OF Al Eton boy Of tho
same claas. "We had bote tase 5estcrdy. |
It wss c:fezly goyly. I am your afekshnnato
sun. But, in 1natters Of ofthog1aphy. tho
woman who delibetates is Lost Is soon a.
doubt asises in het uaind-n1lees aha has
book to refer to-she il sta1iess and rudder-
less. Having usually no Creek or Latin from |
which to reason. she has no guide but her own
rapid perceptions and rctentive memory; aud,
indeed: the nsjorsty Of both sexes find then-
selves in tho same position. Even etymology
will not always load them into the night patti.
VIC have. IN fact. no rules for .pallin5.
Tbs soft Of nptness and readiness Of obser- |
vation which leads to Il tolerable uniformity in
spelling Of tho same period, VIC should expect
to fnd more developed among the French than
the English but the fact is Otherwise. It Was |
the remark OF 4 Ffcnchnan Of letters of high
statlaing-Rho is almost as conyerHant With
our language and manne14 rs with those Of
tion Of cur people arc less wen-iust1ucted on
the whole than tho French in their uothar-
tongue, the illiterate EnglishHpcu much better
than the sAme class in FE1uce. Te do not
mean to assert that ue have not private inii-
viauaiA anoug us in plenty who yield to mono
in originality and Independence Of their ortho-
graphv. The celebrated o6tIer's bill:
L !
To an On arf a .---....-.-.-.--.--.....-.lO 0
A SCtih uuiuotM. .-..-..--.......-.-......-.1
ii 0 I
and also the curious composition aent in by a |
,.nr1epief.