The Portland daily press., 1875-05-04

THOSE engaged in urging the temperance
reform have found one great element which
they could never utilize. They find hun
dreds of men who talk splendidly of total abb
stinence, who are even willing to give their
influence to the cause, always saying that in
temperance is a great evil and all that sort of
thing, but when they are requested to come
over and take the pledge, are never found do
ing it. Like Artemas Ward, they favor the
war and are eager to sacrifice their wives Sec
ond cousins to save the nation. Now this is
all over. There is better way. They have
discovered it in one of our cities. 1t is to
have temperance pledge for all those who
represent the lower strata of society, for
those who have suffered from the vice of in
temperance and another book for those who
are friendly 20 the good work, who believe
in temperance and even total abstinence in a
very general way and for the generality of
people, but who really don't relish this thing
''tetotally" in theirs. They are willing to lend
their influence to the cause. Indeed, they
will contribute dollar to sustain it once in
while. They will extol sobriety. Only, it
isn't necessary for them-in fact isn't conven-
lent for them to sign the real pledge. They
go a-fshing, they meet friends when away
from home, and once in while, sometimes
twice as often, they delight to concoct Sc
ductive beverage for their friends at home.
Now we fear that this double headed temper
ance pledge will not work. The young men
whom it is desirable to save and the con-
frmed drinker who wastes his money and
abuses his family, both may and will prefer
to enroll themselves with the friendly, so
that soon it will be a mark of degradation to
sign the full temperance pledge. Then the
fact will get out that the sympathizers take
their ''tods'' and it will come about that there
is no danger in the practice so that the new
half-pledge will be snare and delusion.
THE spelling match appears to be on the de-
cline. The dictionaries have been pretty
thoroughly ransacked, but there are few
words left yet.We have not noticed that honor-
Observation-Disclosures, to he found in Loves La
Dor Lost, has been given out. There was an
Indian chief who died in Wisconsin in 1866,
and who was named Kagwadawwacomegis-
hearg He might be made useful to his coun-
try. If geographical names are admissible
Llanvairpwllgngyll can been depended upon
to seat some one. Scientific terms are of
course allowable, so no objection can
be made to nitrophenylenediamine which
is defined dye of an intense
red color. One regrets that proper names
are barred out when he sees the possibilities
of Don Juan Nepomuceno de Burionagona-
totorecagageazcoecha, gentleman who was
clerk in the finance department at Madrid
in 1867, or opoulopilousitounitap
ignac, an accomplished giantess who figures
in Croquemtaire. That Rabelais foresaw
the spelling mania and prepared for it is quite
evident from ntipericatametanaparbe
damphicribrationes Toordicantium, the title
Of book, he tells us in Pantagruel, in the IL
brary of st. Victor. Equal foresight may be
ascribed to Aristophanes, to whom an aston
ished world owes Lepodotemochoselacho
kranoleiphanadrimup mupotrimmatokichlepi
suphophatt operisteralektrua nap 'ogkephalok-
opeleiolagoo siraiobaphetrag anoperugon,
which may safely be set down as the largest
word of any meaning in the world. We feel
convinced that few of these words tossed
into the spelling arena will do much TO re-
vive interest in photographed tourna-
ments.''