The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-05-24
THE DICTIONARY AS AN INSTRUCTOR.

We notice as matter well worth men
tioning, that at the recent great pub
l1shers trade sale in New York, the
books that were most in demand and
brought the best prices were Webster's
Dictionaries, from the famous Quarto to
the neat and handy pocket edition. This
fact is good indication of the almost
universal popularity of these books, and
of the growing public demand for them
1t indicates also fact of far greater i'm
portance, and that is the interest 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 common branches of spelling and
defining. 1t is often astonishing and
grlevous to see how grossly ignorant are
children and youth, and even men and
women, of the photography, pronuncla-
ton 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, because 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 of these evils is the prop
er training in the study of words, by the
use OF the Dictionary, and this training
should begin soon as the child can
distinguish between one word and an
other. and continue definitely. The
apparatus for this study should, of course,
be the most complete and thorough to
be had, and this is abundantly supplied in
Webster's Dictionaries, which are Justly
recognized, wherever our language is
spoken, as the standard authority in
English. Parents and teachers can in
no other way SO effectually or SO cheaply
promote the educational interests of their
children, when of suitable age, as by
putting in their hands any one of Web
sters School Dictionaries, for daily use
in connection with the study of their
lessons, and by placing on the family
center table, OF the teachers desk as the
authoritive guide and standard, copy
of the Unabridged.
The unabridged contains 5000 illus
trations over 144, 600 words in its voca-
bularies, 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. ''The
Common School is similar, but larger
with tables of synonyms, sc. sc The high
School,, still fuller with many useful
tables; ''The Academic and "Counting-
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 edges
and morocco binding, is truly an inval-
liable pocket companion. It contains
more than Is, 900 words, rules for spell
ling, many authorizations, words and
phrases, proverbs, ETC., ordinarily met
with III the Greek, Latin and Modern Ian
guages. Whether it is convenient OF
not to have copies of any of the other
books of the series, we certainly recon-
mend that all should possess a copy of
the Pocket, which, when not otherwise
obtainabie, may be had by mail, by in
closing $1.00 to the publishers, MEssRs.
IvIsoN, BRAKEMAN, TAYLOR & Co, 1873
and 140 Grand Street New York.