Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-06-06
The Dictionary as an Instructor

We notice as matter well worth men
tlonilg, that at the recent great publishers
trade sale in New York, the books that
were most in demand and brought the best
prices were Webster's Dictionaries, from tn e
famous Quarto to the neat and handy
pocket edition. This fact is good indica-
ton OF the almost universal popularity of
these books, and Of the growing public de-
mand for them. 1t indicates also a fact OF
far greater Importance, and that is the in
terest the people are taking in the study of
their own language. This is encouraging,
as there is no branch of education that is
now and has been so much neglected as the
comm N branches of spelling and defining
1t is often astonishing and grievous 10 see
how grossly ignorant are children and
youth, and even men and women, of the
photography, pronunciation and meaning of
ordinary words and phrases They cannot
express their thoughts for the want Of
words and often they express thoughts
very different from what they intend, b.
cause they do not understand the words
they employ And very frequently, from
the same cause, they take no idea, or wrong
ideas, from what they read or hear.
The remedy for these evils is the proper
training IN the study of words, by the use
of the Dictionary and this training should
begin as soon as the child can distinguish
between one word and another, and con-
tinue indef nitely. The apparatus for IL is
study should, of course, be the most COM
plete and thorough to be had, and this is
abundantly supplied in Webser's Diction-
aries, which are justly recognized wherever
our language is spoken, as the standard au-
thority in English. Parents and teachers
can in no other way so efectualy or so
cheaply promote the educational interests
of their children, when of suitable age, as
by putting in their bands any one of Wet-
ster's School Dictionaries, for daily use n
connection with the study Of their lessons,
and by placing on the family center table
or the teachers desk as the authoritative
guide and standard, copy of the Una
bridged.
The Unabridged contains 5000 llustra-
tons, over la 900 words in its vocabularies
and 10000 words and meanings not in any
other Dictionary; the abridged editions
comprise "The Primary" which has the
largest sale and which has some capital
rules for spelling. 1.-THE Common School"
is similar, but larger, with table of syno-
nyms, &c. "The High School," still fuller
with many useful tables. "The Academic
and "Coun ting-house" for advanced schools
and for general home and business use
The latter has some specially valuable COM
mercial and financial tables. The little
POCKET" edition, with its bright gilt edges
and morocco binding, is truly invaluable
pocket companion. 1t contains more than
$4,000 words, rules tor spelling, many alb
breviations, words and phrases proverbs,
etc., ordinarily met with in the Greek,
Latin and modern languages. Whether it
is convenient or not to have copies of any
of the other books of the series, we certain
~ recommend that all should possess a copy
Of the Pocket which, when not otherwise
obtainable, may be had by mail, by inclos
ing Sl.0O 10 the publishers, Messrs IvisoN,
BRAKEMAN, TAYLOR & Co, 1873 and lao
Grand Street, New York