, 1875-04-17
Spelling Matches.

Since the advent of the spelling schoo
mGnia there has been recurrence cf IN,
! periodical outcry against the lack OF analogy
i'll English orthOgraphy, and renewed de-
mand for the adoption of the Photographic
method. The most Of that which is written
upon the subject, in the journals Of the day,
comes from the shorthand reporters, who,
from the habit of dropping all silent letters
in their professional labors, come TO think
that he rest OF the world should follow
their excellent example. We would not by
any means assert that these are the only
writers that have expressed themselves in
this direction. There are very few, indeed
OF our best authors and thinkers that have
not at at some tIIge indicated a wish that
our spelling might be bettered but few
have ever looked upon the phonognphic idea
feasible, and not one, we believe, of any
scholarly eIninenee has projected method OF
feiofin. Some fey gentlemen, indeed who
have hitherto, like the moral old lady in the
story, kept themselves from being talked
about, prospose at once to revolutionize all
English literature by resolving 10 write
"hsich' instead of (which" AMI ''moov''
instead of move; and to thess we may,
perhaps with more aptness than courtesy,
respectfully refer NJ Josh Billings spelling
of "phools" The circular of one of these
philosophers who describes hims Il as ''the
distinguish President of the American Fill
ological Association." is before us, and We
hazard the following interesting extract:
1t Is no use 10 try to charaCterizs with fit-
ting cpi'hets the monstrus spelling of the
English language 80. The time lost by it is a
large part Of the whole skooI lime Of the
mass Of men --.- Count the hours which each
man wastes Ill skool III lerning to read and
spell, the hours spent thru life in keeping up
and perfcctiDg his knoledge of spelling, in
consulting dIctionaries,-a work that never
euds,-the hours that We spend in wiring
silent letters; ami multiply This time by the
number uf persons who speak English, aul
sf,@l ISg - toI.i II millions of y-a.ra
wasted Ly each generation. The cost of
printing the silent letters OF the English Ian
guage Is to be counted by millions OF dollars
for each generation.
What We particularly admire il this para
graph Is lis profound scholarship and irle-
siStablc logic, what We do sst admire Is I'll
the rest, The argument contained il the
last sentence Is especially overwhelming
aud while putting stop to this g,ass waste
of money, We would further suggest that
the cost of the buttons sewrd on the tail of
mems coats, where they DO no good what
ever, would pay the running expenses of
the orphan asylnns OF this country Nay,
we would go farther. The saving of mil
lions OF money and millions of years of time
by dropping the silent letters, as explained
above, could be vastly Increased By not using
any letters all; and even this might be infn-
itely augmented if the human race, ipstrad
of resolving TO spell phOuOgraphically, would
resoiEe 10 die immediately
But Fassing from this phase Of reform
ative insanity to those really thoughtful
people who desire reform. we may suggest
TO Them that perhaps they do not fully real
ize how slow and steady has been the accre-
ten OF language and how necessary it Is, in
tie seTy natare of things, that Tefora should
proceed after the same fashion. The pro-
cess may occasionally he slightly facilitated
by snch giant labors as those Of Webster;
but the fact that even his innovations are
many OF them rebelled against, TO this day,
hY leading authors on both sides of the water,
should teach us how futile will be any at
tempts at a phonographic revolution. Cir
cislati Tlnns.