The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-08-28


most stalwart prejudiccs be roasted to
deth over a slo fire. Thus, and in no
other way, is it possibl to secure the
powerful alliance of the newspaper pres.
There is no sound reason why every
jurnal in the land shud not at once
adopt the five rules and resolutely cary
them into the newspaper and job office
Within a month from the change, every
will be habituated to the
and, what is better, con-
scious that it is an improvement. The
adoption of these five rules will be the
logical extension and systematization
of habit which has long been groing
upon the pres. Every tendency in jur-
nalism is towards q simpler typografy.
It has abolished the indiscriminate use
of the capital letters. Ono of Horace
familiar sentences, deformed
and bedizened with frontispeace on
every cOmon noun, is now q typografi-
cal curiosity. There is far less waste
full use of punctuation marks than Gus
tom formerly dictated. Italics are ban
ished from the pres in the same way
and for the same reason, becaus editors
are beginning to realize that the force of
languag lies not in its appearance to the
j, but in its meaning to the mind. The
reasoning is equally good in its aplica-
ton 70 spelling.
1t is years sine many of us first dropped
the superfluos "me" off programme"
and the only objection ever herd rased
was advanced by q certain colej presi-
dent, when urged to use the brefer form
upon the commencement scheme-he
was afraid the peple wud think the fac
ulty did not know how to spell! Alredy
many of US ar long used to dropping the
final "te'' from the entire group of
words like cigarette, qndrtette, etiquette;
and the words heve gained q manly,
stratforward appearance from the ellis.
There is nothing in the five rules
more radical, more orthografically
outre, than are the changes alluded to
above. Why do we continue to carry
the ugly ugh" like an old man of the
sea, upon the baks of our thoronghs,
throttghs, and boroughs? Long ago the
pepl of my county sanctioned its taking
off. when they permitted the descend
ants of the fronders of the first village
planted on the hed-waters of the
Mohawk River to shorten up their
Whitesboro," so that the village
leter-riter NIT hav time to reach the
mail before IL closed. Who will miss
the "ue" that the Spelling Reform
Association begs the newspaper to drop
from the rear of catalogue and demo-
gogue, where the pair have been silent
ly catching q stolen ride for al these
generations? Why shud not the pres
be as ferce to Xix this intruding letter
K out of the alphabet as it is to drive q
thief out of public officp Why must
we use p and an h, when q singl is
better than bothP Why should we lon
ger fater our consonants by the newt
able dublet at every posibl oportunityp
All the world stops when it is thru
except the printer. With him, as with
the witches, it is an endless " double,
double, toll and trouble"
The pres need hav no fear that its
constituency will rebel against the
gradual Introduction of the spelling re-
form. The cantakeros subscriber who
stops his paper becaus this or that
feture of its mechanical arrangement
does not suit him will doubles be on
hand; but he must be discounted any
way. We may judg of the general
eject upon reders by the remarkable
popularity of Josh Billings rit-
PiohCCk AOAoh LOk
who has broken the pathway
more thoro'ly than we imagin, by sho-
ing peple that the nearest and esiest wa
to rech a given orthografic point is by
the bee line. Insted of Disgusting his
wit by this STRAIT spelling, the almanac
humorist makes it the more p1latabl
and distinguished.
The average newspaper reder is the
20 fha hsonso hn fa- Ar,
mechanic-peple with the averag edu-
cation and averag culture. employed in
other than literary pursuits, and prone
to forget the quixotic orthografy they
cud never completely master in the
of their own that they slip in their spell
ing. Let us rather look upon it as a
disgrace to the English-speking world OF
the nineteenth century that it has per-
mited itself to rech that century with
out perfecting for its daily use an or
thografy so scientific that every word
can be spelled as a column of figures is
AIDED, and the spelling verified as the
addition is verified.
Here, then, is q graf and open field
for jurnalism-new to it as mission,
but sugjestively akin to the achievement
it already boasts in the establishment
of its own rite of FIRE speech. The work
is redy to its hand-ripe for journalism
to reap the rewards Of the agitation
which u gentlemen hav so unselfishly
and persistently kept alive. The spell
ing reform needs but the singl impetus
which the pres can give it. Its accom-
plishment will outrank any triumph
the newspaper has yet achieved in its
positiv benefits to the world. wish
that every jurnalist whose may fall
upon these words could be induced to
consider this work that pleads for the
championship of his profession in the
lite of his own ideal of what that pro
fesion ought to be and to do. In nc
other field can it SO largely and benefi.
Gently demonstrate its power. The
pres of the United States is divided be-
tween hostile political cians. The en-
ergies Of one-half ar largely wasted in
lighting the other. half. Its direct in
fluence is pitiably wekened and nutra-
lized by this perpetual jangl. Here Al
least is one field in which it can units
with q comon purpose, to achieve 6
work that will win for it the lasting re
gard of the pepl who read. Why shall
not jurnalism contribute Of its abun
dant mite to make our glorious English
language not only the most affiuent ant
concise but the esiest and most 6losof
cal of written languages, crowning i
with a new glory as it marches on it
conquering wayp Chevaliers of th'
pres: Let us wage war against the des
potism of the dictionary!
Svs The Georgia Gold Belt.
The "gold belt" of which the mos
productive portion lies at this point
"a aA- of a.