Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-02-12

ittIy tHty eAtenu TO all phases and COM
plications of the system. The pupil
readily realizes that he is to spell by
sight, and not by sound; that the signs
OF sounds are comparatively meaningless
and worthless that he can write no
sound with certainty of accuracy, until
he has seen it written; that he can pro-
nounce no word with certainty OF accur-
acy, until he has heard it pronounced ;
that he cannot hope to become master of
the language until he has conquered the
dictionary of words piece-meal, and he
enters upon life impressed with the pain
full consciousness that he must expend
years of time in learning that which
should be learned in as many months.
In the cultivation of our lands, the wood
en- plough and the slow sickle are re-
jected, but in the acquisition of knowl.
edge our facilities, in respect to orthog
graphy, we scarcely surpass those of the
semi-civilized peoples of the east, who
are alleged to be content with no less
than 5000 characters to represent 500
syllabid sounds.
In an address by Prof. March, of La
fayette College, in 1876, that learned
scholar in philology referred to com
putation which had been made, showing
that Eve throw away $15,000,00O year
paying teachers for adding the brains Of
our children with bad spelling, and at
least 100000, 900 more in paying printers
and publishers for sprinkling our books
and newspapers with silent letters" In
Il paper, read before the State Teachers
Association Of Wisconsin, in July last
the late Prof. Stephen II. Carpenter, of
the university of Wisconsin, stated that
"as basis upon which to estimate the
loss occasioned by the employment of
useless letters and combinations, !" he had
counted the letters in the defined words,
upon two page of Worcester's Quarto
Dictionary, an dfound an average of 90
per cent of such letters silent; from
which he assumed that 20 per cent. of
the cost of every book is occasioned by
our vicious system of spelling, and that
reformed photography would reduce
Webster's Dictionary from 1,700 pages
to 1850 pages, and the price proportion
ately.
The proposed reform, based upon the
use of definite sign for every distinct
sound, and the rejection of all signs
which do not fulfill this office, practi
cally requires the Punishment of at least
three letters from our present Romantic
alphabet, and the addition of eighteen or
twenty new characters Should such a
modification be adopted and agreed upon,
the contrast between the old and the new
photography would not be essentially
greater than that of the original text of
Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Milton, and
the text of any modern publication.
1t is not difficult to form an estimate
of the practical possibilities Gin this re-
spect, from the experience Of the past
Ia the first edition of the authorized
version of the English Bible we read :;
Give care, O We heauens and | will
speake," etc In Tyndales New Tesla
ment, the pronoun IL is spelled in eight
words Pilgrim, certain, black, and again
period, at the dctation of Noah Webster,
we have changed the spelling Of whole
classes of words, and we no longer write
h0h0r with a super:luous u, or traffic with
final 4, or trdyeier with an extra l.
Webster hoped for and attempted more
radical reforms, and at every step in this
direction was applauded by the learned
critics of Europe. Such reforms have
the languages of the European cont.
nent and are sustained by the UNIVERSE
ties and by public opinion. That which
has been done in the past or elsewhere,
can certainly be done in the future and
here. There the state lends its influence
to this line of progress, and here nc con-
ditlon to continuous progress really
exists, but the exercise of u competent
authority to give expression to a public
opinion already formed. The tendency
of this opinion is never backward into
darkness, but forward into Highland
English speaking peoples need but
slight encouragement, under existing
circumstances, to enable them to achieve
n greater advance than Webster dreamed
of or dared to suggest, half century
ago.
In limited degree, the proposed re-
form has been practcalized in many Of
the public schools of the United States
and in Europe, by Il phonic method of
teaching pupils to read and spell, BY
this method, each letter having more
than one sound, is printed in various
forms, the number Of forms correspond
ing with the number of essential sounds
while letters silent in the text are printed
in hair-line type, to denote their oral
useessness and insigniicance. BY this
method, the pupil who has learned the
letters Of the alphabet, and their respec-
tive forms, can pronounce any printed
word in the text without hesitation, even
if he has never before seen the word or
is ignorant of its meaning. 1t is claimed
by eminent teachers, that this method
saves one-half the time usually occupied
by pupils in learning to read and spell