The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-10-16
z. q. B. to ]. N.

PIE. fOF myself, nllet mature utIlDtEu'
ton, | have enlisted in the Spelling Re-
form Brigade for life, or during the war,
and desire to be held strictly TO the text,
and shall expect my opponent hereafter
10 meet the issues squared y and vanquish
the arguments by an array Of facts and
logical deductions, or accept the situation
and give up the contest.
The first paragraph Of my friends ar.
tiClG Of October 9th, referring to crema-
ton, &C., is irrelevant and not fair
application of my remarks; but as the
gentleman il 30 very soliCitous to step in
the exact orthographical footprints Of
our predecessors, will At the close OF
this article make a few literal quotations
from ancient English authors, that all
may zee how far the present perverse
generation has strayGd from the original
Thoroughly sound pathological goose"
ease Of acquisition decreases the value
Of any commodity in the estimation Of
the purchaser" Then, Brother J, NJ
you do acknowledge that the phonetic
system renders the acquisition Of spell
ing and reading edsy, and consequently
your assertions abOutthe extra taxation
Of the mental faculties" from the intro
duCtion OF new letters and the reduction
Of the old ones 10 decent system have no
force We have therefore gained one
point and most important One-il is easy
of acquisition, do not care q iarthing
whether it Is valued highly or not II it
Is speedily acquired and properly used.
"lNbOr Is capital, when applied as an
educational means, rs well Ns In meChani-
cal skill" admitthe correctness Of the
proposition; but there is another aximO-
iic truth that should be coupled with It,
viz "Time is money" and he who would
consume double the time necessary to nc.
Complish an object, with the certainty Of
reaching a much less satisfactory result,
makes a foolish investment OF his capi.
tai.
1Does he imagine that the growth Ol
intellect is locked up in those seventeen
forms (new lettCrs)% No, sir, | do not
but | do know that our alphabet will moi
be perfect, nor can spelling and punCtua.
tiOn no anything but I'm inextricablc jum'
bic, until they or their equivalent are
adopted. One letter and but one for each eIe.
meniary sound, il our motto. Idemand that
my opponent meet this proposition
squarely, and answer 1t.
" lie complains that our present sys'
TEN requires the mcmorizing Of every wOrG
in the language" So 1t does, but the task
Is ncrer accomplished. swell, Is not Il
word the sign Of an idea?' No, sir, the
form Is by no means the sign Of m idea tC
primary pupils; the long columns o.
words in the Eclectic Spcller represents
to the bewilderCd and Supplied minds o.
your Juvenile learners, naught but an al
most interminable list Of words, words
words! Hard to spell, hard to pro
nOuncc, and to very few Of them do they
attach the fainLest shadow Of an idea; and
should the pupils study the forms only
ten times as long as j. N. seems to desire
they would be no nearer the meaning, III,
true idea 10 BE- acquired, than At the first
glance. Words are not studied by pri-
mary pupils with reference to their deri'
walton or pathological relations, but sim
ply as vehicles for expressing ideas, in
which sense alone they are valuable Ia
the young learner.
"Would lie teach sounds and words with,
out ileasp Just us well as forms and
words without ideas. | express no Opin
ion about the usual arrangement Of words
in our spoilers without accompanying
definitions, because brother j. N, the
tonic under discussion Ia Orth0gTdphy and
not arrangement
ole would seek to transport him (thC
pupil) from the temperate cline Of OfhCalth
engcndcring activity to the tropical zonC
Of easc, spOntaniety and la2iness." Thil
il another admission that the new OF
rather the perfected system il easy
Thank you brother j. ~ you IRE pro
crossing finely.
vi. +. B., objects to the same form Of NJ
Alphubetic letter representing different
elementary sounds, but sees no absurdity
in the same formal word representing
different IDEAS" You are quite righ
again in your statement
| do object to the same letter standing
for different sounds, because there are nj
reliable rules to govern the pronouncei
as to which OF its various sounds n vown
Is intended to represent, and abso
lutcly no rules to govern the writer as t
whether the simple letter or any OF It's forty
or more Substitutes shall be used II
spelling II word. A foreigner who had
thoroughly mastered every sound in the
language and every letter and substitute
In The alphabet, would stand at least :
million chances to be wrong to one to bC
correct, in writing or reading three sen
Lenccs Of the most common English bn
no ambiguity can exist In the ilse o
identical Hords, ma has already been ex
plained the context ARRAYS determines
their meaning. My friend grows sarcastic
over depot, and suggests the dropping o
the t. All right, and let us drop the
terminal y's and C's, and h's, and ough's
and the eigh's and all the balance Of Tho
troublesome rubbish Of silent letters, thI
nnsightly and mentally pestiferOus her
itage from the dark ages, or preserve then
only as Curiosities In some dark close
among the bats and owls. and then VI
shall get along fAnOusly, for my dear sir
that Is n part Of the reform that you have
been so zcalously fighting, they (thI
silent letters and combination and sub
stitutes) are the "lions in the way" tha
we intend 10 slaughter and then driyI
their hackers off the track Of progress By
phonetic artillery.
at is useless TO attempt to teach III,
otthography Of every word in the Ian
gnnge to the pupils Of our common
schools" Certainly, IL is absolutely hope
less by the present methOd and equal,
torlofn Is the hope To teach II successful
ly in any other grade Of schools. You ar
coming up TO the work nobly, my friend
I have great hopes Of your conversion
for "whiie the lamp holds out 10 burn Ne
IA monotonOus form Of representation I,
the eve will not assist the mind in form
ing a conception Of the ideas by the con
text, any more than the present system
does" Quite right again. Nobody say
that II does, but "a the gentleman so mucl
dCprCcateS mohotony, suppose we try
little variety in representing numbers
is crooked figure, we will try some sub
slitute just for novelty's sake you know
for Gs we will write 6.53, and Tor 1868 lie
1885 be used, and for 2s6 use 2.ll.6, ant
for 1914 substitute l.l4.75, and for 1888!
| - ~ IL q 4 4 l.. 4. I.