The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-02-27
.[From the Cincinnati GhranicIe.l
About Spelling.
BY poN oRLANp.

] 4
BY DON oRLAND
3 Suppose an advertisements for perfaM
speller should appear in a daily paper
morrow-"No one who ever misspells
word need apply ly'-how many who saw y
does the reader suppose, could apTA
with the confident self-assurance of bel
able to meet the requirement 1t isA
sad fact that in orthography, among mi
! Of average education, many adventg
/ and few succeed and too, it often haA
pens that even in perfect syntax def
tive orthography is abundant. In such
case it is perhaps charitable to suppoH
that the great mind, writhing in t
throes of composition, can leondesceK
kenly to effectiye words and smoothly CO
stPucted sentences, and does not haveA u
care for so trivial an affair as the proI#
! arrangement of letters to form words,
long as those words do their duty. VIII
his batteries work effectively the co a
mander does not inquire whether or I'd
the traces are twisted.
T. OF course these remarks apply only m.
manuscript copy when the same 3S
/ pears in print it is shorn of all ortlies.
graphical eccentricities, for the prone
reader is infallible soto ;uOce: especiahrit
with a we'll -thumbed Webster at EnS
elbow. rrzes. .-s--
To many writers good spelling is
accomplishment as difficult of acqui
ment as was the keeping step to the
/ mortal Dutchmen who marched to
inspiring cry of Hay foot, straw foo0
! After the poor wight who wields the par
spends many a moment during his pa
paration of copy in desperate strugE
with obdurate vowels and consonanaS
hopelessly struggling to make them f -
| into line in their proper places, aSng
| cropping blindly among changes Of TIM.
mination" and substitution, and all tate
other intFicacies of English orthograpIoos
the oft-recurring question, ''Is it ei or iener
! will puzzle him, and Separate afie
scissors and ''phthisie' y and the theosd
sand other orthographical stumblipak
blocks viii trip and bewilder the unhapfrroo
scribbler; unless, indeed, he is sereneSnS
unmindfuI of the ridicule that attachl4s.
to bad spelling, and entertains lof
disregard for the grinDing comments -
sub-editors and compositors; and
Knowing his weakness
His evil behavior,
Aud bearing with meekness
His sins to hiS-proof-reader.
An eminent scholar in this countA
/ once made the statement that mot oiN
i man in thousand who can write 81 u
spell all his words correctly" Astonis
ing as at first, this statement seems,
is. nevertheless, probably true. WhES
| stands in the way of a general knowled
| of how much poor spelling there is do
in the world, is the fact that a pens
who is unable himself to spell correc s1S ZOE
| is, sef course, incapable of detecting tiege.
same failing in another. Those who re T9lg-
only the letters of highly educated a6ed.
cultured persons, or see only the ca the
fully prepared manuscript of such peop the
can hardly understand how rare an and
complishment is good spelling The es9tsppo. tpo
! dence of it comes most ,conyincingly " fHnd
him. who, daily, has mass of. corr'he'
| pondence from 'alI sorts of people ~,
examine, or who is obliged to read Inan1 II
script received from miscellaneo
sources sso 14
f. The editor who invites correspondent .
! from all quarters and people, must pl "a
! pare himself to witness, unmoved, t "a
i frightfnl atrocities committed by tA
4 common people, henever they endeav-
to wreak their thoughts upon pape
Give the average working man, who is
deft and dextrous when handling IL
! tools with which he is familiar, a pen,
i and bid him construct withfit words and
f,sentenees to express his thoughts, and
the result is sickening. With every
twist of his tongue and splatter of his !
Irpen he murders a syllable, and his path
way down the sheet is CHASTITY with dis
membered diphthongs, displaced coIiso-
inants, and all the digecta n1enabra of a
1 slaughtered language. As editor, pencil
in hand goes wearily down the pages of
/ his miscellaneous. correspondence, cover
ed with photographed and chirograph-
ical ruins, and endeavors to get thesfrag-
ments into some shape that will suggest
( the authors intention, tacking on an G
j to ''pleas, 1, striking off an from tuntill"
| knocking out an M from. "emminent'
zloctoring ttrecomend, strengthening out
'thier, and regulating parallel, - he /
concludes with disgust that spelling is
one of the lost arts, if indeed, he grun-
| bles, it was ever f3undaziE sssss3j ~.
| Most of the bad spelling with which
! the nsilbags every day are stuffed is the
results OF carelessness and Incidence !
! There is little excuse for a n1isspelled
word for, while it must be acknowledged
| that English orthography is full of diff
| culties, yet. almost every man able to
write can possess a dictionary of the lam
! guage which will settle every question in /
| a moment. There is some excuse after |
all, for the very punctilious English gen
/ tleman who considered himself insulted
by a person who wrote to him letter
containinga misspelled word. |
A misspelled word, too, has often proved |
serious thing How many situation /
has been refused how many hope de-
MED, how many an applicant turned |
away, because the application contained |
bad spelling. A story is told of gentle |
man who was. rejected by a young lady, |
to whom he offered himself, because. in |
his first letter to her, he spelled gentle
with a j; and q story is now even going /
the rounds of the press, that a Connecti- !
cut young lady s bad spelling had led to |
a SIX thousand dollar breach of promise |
case Again, it has demoralizing effect |
upon the Geference and respect we owe !
bur fellow=man when that fellow man |
sends US a letter. in which he says he |
"thought he'd wright a few lines. and |
we readily express our contempt for him
who addresses us Deer sir. p. 'i'f g" 4
We expect to see bad spelling with bad /
writing; the two go naturally together, |
like a ruffian and his shabby clothes. A |
| blunder in spelling done up in elegant |
chirography, has its absurdity enhanced, |
and our disgust with the author is IN
creased; something as we are shocked to |
discover physical deformity undf a. fine |
garment, or see the "beggars in velvet
gowns" at which it is no wonder the.
dogs barked There is, however. one ad- /
n i L IL -