The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-03-10

when Tho day is Ger.
AS a sond moth ksnd her n.tae. e - Se n is S
s sif x.s ss h broken a. s sne oor
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prSpsIsss ea Fl more spie'dtt, may not please
sI 'hip' more; -, ma. ard xsue away 80
So dsss ws an sf Sy ea the hand
% rs 10 res. 50 gently s 70 w Of STAY,
sosrsssS snos,HYa y ,see w's
Being 100 suM 9, fxnscends the "na' VIC
sao;Thi u. ". soaatsio,o, IN the A''a"''e'
"a. .--..~-sssjt- ------------- Is
.spcrnnr Eeform."
a'...,e ,IsTHop Az IMPROVE
rs the r hoSs gNTi--" PICTURE w.
AESTrcH,,x ,T--ss ALLOWED rs. HA-
LoED."
The Encfnh Social Science Associatseinl
held ,neetSa 9 to (lscuss spelling "Reform,
The LonSen Daily Telegraph reports: Tue
chair was sakes, by DR.. Rigg, who opened
the nroceedinos in y somewhat hopefess
manner by observing that "he had given IN
his adhesion t. the necessity OF doing sone-
thing towarI,the reform Of our existing ma
tioaal system OF spelling, but that whm was
to be done he did not exactly knew. Inc
sss.skers who followed him did very Httte 10
remove this initial difficulty. One gentleman
snr~ested that instead OF twenty-six letters
we ought to have an alphabet OF one nun
dred and twenty, and that all capitals ougOs
To he abolished. He seess1s to have HIS
trated his views by q set al diagrams Draw
with a niece of chalk on blacSboartS; sut
tbe audience was far frora enthusiastic, ano
the prorcsats, ingenious as tkey were, Tel,
somewhat dead. The next speaker wanted
10 see the phonetic system introducea; ne
rendered the Lords Prayer phonetlcaiy 20
the following effect: "Our Father which
art in heyen, haloed be Thy name, my
kingdom cum, Thy viii be dun IN erin az II
il in heven, Civ us this day our ,dmiy oreu,
and forgiv us our diets az we loFsiv our
detorz. And Iced US not intu temtalshon'
but deliver lis from eeEil." ana ne eN-
pressed himself az OF opinion 1hat IL this
REGULAR mode of photography were only
adopted the ordinary labor 'of eoucat IiS, .
would be diminished by something IKE
eighty per cent 49,,
II Is idle to reason with gentlemen VINO
want N smell hallowed" * halocd," and
assure us that we gain by doing So: Tue
advocates of phonetic spelling are like the
anti-yaccinators, the believers In spirit
rappinss, and the gentlemen who are con-
WINGED that the earth is fiat-perSons Wlth
whom to argue seriously is to waste Talua,
BILE time. When man gravely tells us tnat
he approves OF such a monstrous spelling
NJ npiktchur," on the ground that 1t Is paSt
OF the general system Of spelling reform,
il ia impossible to answer him by argument.
g Piktchur" is quite as difficult \ word to
spell and to bear in the memory as PIC
ti1rc." while it further labors under this
disadvantage-tha it does not preserve the
chronology or show ats derivation from the
Latin pia,qere. The changes and corruptions
of the English language have been so man!
that words which are essentially distinct
both in origin and meaning have come to bt
pronounced in exactly the same manner:
and the phoneticists, by confounding tbt
spelling, would confound the words as well
and so introduce inevitable confusion o.
form. II we were to spell "wright,'
..write.'' "rite," and Fright" upon pho
netic principles, we should spell all OF them
"rite" indlscriminately. BY 30 doing WE
should confuse four words which are essen
tiallv distinct, both in significance anC
source. "Write"i Is Anglo-Saxen, Rite .
ia Latin, "Right'' is also Latin, and is the
equivalent Of the Latin "rectuS," Of
straight. "Wright," on the other hand, al
we find it in "shipwrigbt,' wheeiwrlght,'
and other such combinations, is connected
with I" work. and has nothing to do Will
either "rectus" or "rite." AL these
distinctions tho friends OF phoneti
cism would abolish at one fell sWoop
They would ignore the distinction be
tween "bow" and !" bough," and between
"wheel" y, and d" weal"; and they woult
SMELL "theatre %, ssphaeton," and "phes'
SAINT" in q manner which would sugges
| that all three words were derived from til
same common source. When you tell then
that IL their reform were carried out til
greater portion Of the history OF the Worlt
would be destroyed, their only answer
that the history OF the world must take car
OF itself. They are cheerfully prepared t.
spell Sc Dacre" as Sc DakuC," "Cholmon
deley,' as 'Chumly," St. John"
"Sinjun," "Pepys" as " Pips," "Ciren
cester" as g Sissitur," Greenwich i" a
"Grinidge," "boatswain as "bosun,
and, to crown the terrible list, "Uttoxe
ter" as ssRoXter." Vandalism OF thi
kind would render history simply impossi
BILE. -,
The point the phoneticists have in thei
favor. English spelling is admittedly botl
difficult and inconsistent. This, unfortu
Hately, cannot be helped. Our history Ia:
been complex, and its compiexity has re
corded itself in our tongue. Our language
is babel of many dialects, and contain:
words from almost every vocabulary thai
the world has ever had. The proposal o.
the phoneticists to do away with this EN-
barrassment by spelling every word as it il
pronounced is about as reasonable as the
suggestion that we should put an end to al
debated points in history by burning every
public record and historical work, with
Al, ~ q
chisrn." Omar the Great was reformel
| of this kind, and wanted to do very much
| what Mr.. Pitman and his friends wish u:
to do. When he took Alexandria he burnt
| its library, and he did 80 on an intelllgl
BILE principle. These books, said he, must
contain either what is already in thu
Koran or what is not. On the latter sup
position they are erroneous and superfu
Gus; on the former, they are needless. /
would he a difficult question to determine
whether the abolition of our existing sys
TEN of spelling would or would not be
greater loss to the VOL Id than was inflicted
on it by the destruction OF the library @
Alexandria. 1t is misfortune, no doubt
for the little English school-boy that he ha
in reality to learn history and etymologl
while ostensibly he is only learning to spell
| On the other hand, it is, from his own point
Of view, always a misfortune for school
boy that he should have to learn anything
and whatever ground the friends Of pho
neticism may set up they can hardly claim
our sympathies when they ask us to abridgt
the mental exertions OF the British school,
boy at the expense of that one eternal record
Of English history which stands preserved
in the English language.
'-a..#---ea f-a..' - ----urs.-------