The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-05-31
THE DICTIONARY AS AN IN,
sTRUCTGR.

We notice as q matter well
worth mentioning, that at the re-
cent great publishers trade sale
in New York, the books that were
most in demand and brought the
best prices, were Webster's Die
tIonarics, from the famous Quarto
to the neat and handy pocket edi-
ton. This fact is a good inGica-
ton ofthe almost universal pop
ularity Of these books, and of the
growing public demand for them.
1t indicates also Il fact Of far
greater Importance, and that is
the interest the people are tax
ing in the study of Their own Ian
guage. This is encouraging, as
there is no branch of education
that is now and has been 50 much
neglected as The common branch
es Of spelling and defining. 1t is of
ten astonishing and grieYous to
see how grossly ingnorant are
children and youth. AMI even
men and women, of the orthogra
ply, pronunciation and meaning
of ordinary words and phrases.
They cannot express their
thoughts very different from what
they intend, because they do not
understand the words they en-
ploy. 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 Die
tionary, and this training should
begin as soon as the child can dis
tlngniSh between one word and
another, and continue Indefinite
ly. The apparatus for this study
should, Of course, be the most
thorough to be had, and this is
abundantly supplied in Web8ter's
Dictionaries, which are justly rec
ognized, wherever our language
is spoken, as the standard author
lty in English. Parents and
teachers can in no other way SO
eHectually or so cheaply promote
the educational interests Of their
children, when of suitable age,
as by putting in their hands any
one Of Webster's School Diction-
aries, for daily use in connection
with the study OF their lessons;
and by placing on the family cen
ter table, or the teachers desk
as the authoritative guide and stan
dard, a copy Of the Unabridged.
The unabridged contains 5000
Illustrations, over 1l4.000 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. "The Common SCHOOL,
is similar, but larger, with tables
of synonyms, &c. "The High
SCHOOL, still fuller, with many
useful tables; "The Academic"
and "Counting-house" for adyan-
ced schools and for general home
and business use. The latter has
some especially valuable CONNER
cial andfinancial tables. The little
Pocket" edition, with its bright
gilt edges and morocco binding,
is truly an invaluble pocket com
panion. It contains more than
$4,000 words, rules for spelling,
many abbreviations, words and
prases, proverbs, etc, ordinarily
met with in the Greek, Latin and
Modern languages. Whether it
is convenient or not to have cop
les Of any Of the other books Of
the series, we certainly recon-
mend that all should possess a
a copy Of the Pocket, which,
when not otherwise obtainable,
may be had by mail, be inclosing
$l.00 to the publishers, MEssRs.
IvIsoN, BRAKEMAN, TAYLOR & Co.,
1873 and 40 Grand Street, New