The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-04-15

THE SPELLING SCHOOL ct the parlors of the Con.
gregational Church came off on Monday evening
according 10 previous notice-or would, if dame
nature had not interfered to preventit. 1t rained
all day and all the evening and prevented all but
the yenturesome from being present. &c odly
lumber were present, however, the rain to the
contrary Notwithstanding. Rev. H. G Hitchcoc
called 10 order and, as many intending to be
present were prevented, it was proposed to adj
journ to Thursday evening and to return the
admission tickets to those present as they passed
out, which was doGe. 1t was then proposed that
a. many had come some distance through the
raln II the majority were in favor of spelling
for short time, to do so, ard the majority and
probably all being in favor Of it. Judge J,lsnn
Was called to preside, and to pronounce the
words and Bar. Leonard Lee and Mrs. James H.
STryker to choose the spoilers
At first and perhaps nearly half the time the
class spelled sitting and without being spelled
down. Then all stood up and each one on mis-
spelling word sat down. The class being good
spoilers, some getting tired standing sat down.
and rose On their turn to spell. The spelling
continuing till lear 10 O'Clock, a good number
sui standing aud likely to continue standing for
some time unless they fell down, it was PROF. osed
70 cIose the spelling, having had, as it was said
1an enough Tor one night. and to adjourn to
Thursday evening, which was done.
The pArl0rs OF the Congregational Church
are an excellent place for holding apelliEg school
and the, were comfortably warm and well light
cd. And, IN some respects the proceedings were
wen conducted and in others, not 40 well AZ thew
might nave been. Even II the OBJECT of spelling
schoo is for fun IL would be better to understand
Inc producing cause Of the fun Some could
ilugh 81 bad pronunci ton and enunciaslon as
well as wrong spelling Others wosid be better
pleased with good pronunciation and enuncia-
lion and correct spelling, And we think none
neeu be AZ loss to decide which would be the
most profitable.
pue pronunciation and enunciati on were not al
WAYS 81 the hest. PrOnouucer ana spoilers fire.
queniiy lai ed TO understand each other For
example A young lady-a good speller-
stanCtng within six feet oil the prOnOCncer. more
than once told him that she did not understa nd
the word and he more than on ce told her that
nc did not unpersand how she spelled the word
This would not have been il tie pronuncia tion.
enanclaton AID tore OF voice had been good.
The prononncer did not always pronounce cor
reCOy. even when he intended to. Take for
exam lie tie WORD, obstacle. He pronounced the
Wtrd exactly as II It was pronounced OBJ stic-l,
accent on the fiji st syllable short in the second
and no vowel sound in the third. Such pronuncia-
ton is lar from being correct and tends to lead
TO incOrl ect spelling.
Words OF uncertain spelling were pronounced
to be spelled, as If there was but one way to spel
] them. Take for example the word scimlter or
sclmitar. We cid not understand whether the
l@Ft syllable WIS spelled with an G or an a in the
book used by the pronoancer. Emory Grant, re-
f9rr ing TO Websters Unabridged, said it was
spelled both ways: lie might have gone farther
and sand that TIE Unabridged said see Cimeter
.
also scimetar, scymear, and scimiter. And on
| turning 10 scymetgr have SAID See Cimeter II
would seem from the Unabridged that Webs ter
his 1evisers-prefe rred Cmeter And it would
also seem that the word was spelled almost every
way 5ut he right way Now what should spell
/ ers do with authorities thus confused and twice
doubly confou ded? Throw the authorities to
the dogs and spell the word as every sensible
speller should. Using present letters aud
| givingi aud ether 90 called short sounds, they
would epcll the W. I'd SINH er, and would spell it
correctly, which Nebster's Unabridged fails to do
In all its different ways Of spelling it.
We are IN hopes that the spelling schools which
have been prevailing SO extensively will tend t
lead TO better system of spelling as we'll as Il
the better spelling Of the present system, anC
also to otter reading and speaking, socially anl
publicly There IS more need al the present time
i better reading and speaking than Of better spell
ing. And there IL more opportunity in spelling
schools to ascertain whether pronouncers an6
spoilers are understood than there generally il
+ whether public readers and speakers are under
stood. And as 1t becomes manifest that readers
and speakers are frequently not understood tn,
: tendency will be TO better reading and speaking
And to this end we now ann and have heretofor,
aimed our remarks, which some may deem cen
goZious, in relation to Spelling Schools an,
Dime Readings And we are not without hope
that they will haye some influence in accomplish
irg the desired results, and Ii they do, we shall
have our reward.