, 1879-01-12

time spent BY children and foreigners in learn
ing to read English, not less than 50 per cent
vertcd to the advantages OF phonetic alpha
bet, citing recorded instances Of the ease With
which children learned to read and write
through its instrumentalfty. One was Of q
Creek Indian boy, who wrote TO his teacher,
thanking him for the instruction given, the
same day he learned the alphabet. Even allow
ing for exa9gcrations, he maintained that ~
per cent OF the present labor would suffice, il
teachers adhered to the phonetic principle.
The child now wrestlcd with a series of OBJ
staces; there was confusion everywhere, Ger
tainty nowhere-a personal introduction be-
tween himself and each individual, the teacher
being paid to arrange these introductions. What
might be the pleasant occupation Of q few brief
months was made the torture of years. OF the
time spent in learning to spell fully 95 per cent
might be dispensed with. With the phonetic
principle there would be an unvaryiug character
for each SOUND and an unVarying character for
each letter used. In Chicago the spelling in
struction ran through course Of twelve years.
Did 1t make perfect spoilers! Was there such
phenomenon He knew OF but one-Bllnd
Tom-who spelled phonetically- lLauChterl.
in the alphabet. which had twenty
ti,irty-eieht elementary sounds. Wemight get
along by the use Of digraphs, il consistent IN
the use OF the letters 10 show the inconslst-
ency OF their use, be alluded to IA" which bad
fifty different uses, including combinations with
other letters, and there were seventy variations
in this letter and its sound: "Query," said he.
g Why is the letter "a like mosquito: Be
cause, when you 20 to put your finger :; on It, It
it was the worst, but because 1t was the hrst.
He could tell the same story OF every vowel.
j. All perpctualy played fast and loose, especially
loose. The consonants did not behave SO badly,
but the best behaved among them would oe re-
garded rs simply tntoferable IN any we'll
regulated family. He followed "S" through Its
raInifcations, there being forty variations based
upon it and its sound, either alone or IN COM
bination.
The difficulty of learning to write as we now
spelled was such that not less than onc-seVenth
OF the entire population never accomplished It.
Such ignorance In republic was alarming. 1t
was not one-seventh uncducated, and s1x-seVenths
educated. He asserted that another seventh
read 80 that reading Was useless to them:
Taking the last census as basis, 2,00o, 0oo OF
the seventh bad not been slaves Statistics
showed that illiteFocy was on the increase, and
that, too, among tie white population. The
question, because 1t failed to do what was e1-
pected Of it-educate the people, Our orthog-
raphy was unfathomable and an insurmounta-
b1s obstacle. With a phonetic alphabet, only
idiots and imbecies would full to be benefited.
The President ia 1900 ought to be able to an-
nounce that very few, il any, OF the population
could not read and write. The entire process OF
learning to read and spell was illogical; and, in-
stead Of developing the reasoning powers, re-
pressed and stultided them. When a child
! asked why word was spelled SO and so, We
could not tell him; the answer was: "Your
grandfather spelled that way; SO do l." We, in
| fact, taught him that he could not learn
| TO read by tnfnking-that the path was
not i straightforward and intelligib1e one, but
| d crooked, may road, wherein he was in con-
slant danger OF losing himself. The child ac-
cepted everything simply on authority; not be-
cause it was reasonable. Such method could
| not make thoughtful, self-reliant men, Its
! tendency was to form sense OF hclplessness
| and willingness to be led by ANYTHING that
might seem authoritative. An absurd, chaotic,
| and unmanageable authority was the greatest
| Gindrauce to the spread OF the English
| language and the only thing that rendered it
! Ineligible to become the universal language of
the world. None other WIS better adapted to
be. The Japanese hesitated to- adopt it only be-
| cause OF itsspelling.
The objections to the reform were then gone
| into, but, as they are we'll known, nothing need
be said about them except that the lecturer de-
| mOlished them as others have done. As to the
s.chaos" which it was claimed would ensue, he
said, "Let it come. Better that every man,
woman and child should spell in accordance
| with their own sweet will than to be tied to q
standard that is an everlasting hindrance.'' The
| present spelling WAS chaos petrided- The con-
| sequence Of breaking away from 1t would be BY
/ no means appalling. The new chaos would be
| immeasurably better than the old Everybody
| would have a care to make himself understood.
+, A large number Of words would be spelled cor
rectly, aud The reminder would come in time
| through scholars.
Under the third head, Mr.. Broomel1 referred
to the progress already made IN England, where
| public sentiment seemed to be rioening for the
reform, but, as the people there moved slowly.
We might yet take the lead. The work OF the
Pathological Association and the Spelling-Re-
| form Association were alluded to, as was the
recent action Of the Chicago Board OF Educa-
! ton asking the cooperation OF other educa-
tional organizations II the preparation Of a
| petition to Congress to take the subject into
consideration, separately or in conjunction with
| Commission OF England, should one be ap-
| pointed. Politicians were awakening to its I'M
portancc, and the friends Of the movement had
hopes that something would come of it.
In conclusion, Mr. Broomell spoke of what
| each one could do personally, mentioning,
among other things, the dropping OF silent let
tiers in their correspondence, circulating books
and papers, writing to the local papers, and
( talking to their neigbbors. He suggested as a
beginning the using OF ITO" for Though,
the dropping of the final 'se" in "have,'
'sgiye," etc; the dropping OF ia" from head
/ and an t3l" from will, and the using OF S'v''
for IT" in "of," making it 'fov.'' There was
rich legacy in the English language. and It's
value could be greatly augmented By simplth-
cation Of its written representation. We we're
| spell-bound- We must break this spell. APP
plause-
The usual discussion followed, and vote OF
thanks was rendered Mr. Broomel for his en-
terta:ning and instructive remarks.