The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-03-23
CHTLDREN'S RIGHTS PARRY
No. XIV.
DEAR SHARLoT:
NO. XIV.

/
I In my last | stated nv way If .rcour
agrment that all great r rms nrigina
ted with the people. This is n"cnIiarlv
The case where the reform has a Drac,icnl
and moral basis, fhenring nlpen iEeir.everv
Ivy life. Why che selling ref rm has
lin ere 60 long, is brcntlsr The heavi"et
burden of this abnormal safe of orr writ
ten languagecomes tipTn the children be-
fore they are old nough to protest aud
because their teachers are to much The.
slaves and imitators t$authorjty, bling
mostly cont Mt to take things 10 hey are
True they are laboring unier great
mistake in regard tn W at constitutes
AUTHORITY, but IN tins they are no. diffr
ent from the rest of the world T. nth
Is always the highest authority. She If is
whose reign. in the future IS to BE- THE
eternal years of God are hers" and her
supremacy. is only a question of time
They should also remember thet our Lex
icngraphers are not Guthority of what
should be; they do not pretend to he this,
but MY what they suppose to be most in
vogue among the best speakers and
writers, If popular speakers AMI writers
should commence t@-morrow to spell and
pronounce according to nature there
would soon be new editions of the old
works to correspond herewith DR.
of authority, openly confessed that when
a doubt arose about the spelling Of Il
word he didn't pretend to settle it, upon
the original intention and object of al
phabetlc language, to wiz: the Sanscript
or phonetic ba is giving every sound a
single representative character, but rat her
troubled himself about preserving all the
trappings and trimmings, furbelows and
founces that each language through
which the word had come, had accident
ally or foolishly attached to it. In this
way the original word in many cases b.
came like q fashionably dressed lady. the
least part of itself. He thereby perpetua-
ted a great folly for centuries, which
otherwise would have made our English
language the exposure of modern tongues
1t is said that Noah Webster in his early
life contemplated publishing purely
phonetic dictionary. so impressed was he
with the folly of what he called f" our
barbarous orthography," but influential
friends persuaded him that such work
would not sell, so he gave truth and jus
tice the go by, and instead thereof has
given the authority of his great name
with a few changes for the better to
perpetuate the very barbarism" he so
much condemned. Not so with his more
conscientious literary compatriot Nathan
lei Storrs, who died in Boston in 1851,
bequeathing to his executor, Dan. S.
Smalley, the sum of five thousand dollars
to publish an English Phonetic Diction.
airy, which work has been faithfully done
in the American Phonetic alphabet of
1855. This work, though rot perfect nor
expected to be, will ever remain monu-
ment to its oliginator's foresight, philan
thropy and liberality, as fist effort in
the right. direction of Modern Lexico-
graphers to bring back our written Ian.
guage to the true idea of alphabetic writ
ing, giving to each sound It's proper rep
ressntstive letter, and no other. To this
complexion il must come at last. The
sooner the work is commenced, the soon
er it will be ended. for all errors that bear
upon the every day facts of life, must
fade away before the on marching tide of
the UtiiitArianism of the present and
coming ages. HU.