, 1879-03-01
S0.CALLED SPELLING REFORM.


TO ths Editor ny Tho Tribune.
CHICAGO, Feb. 2S-1 WIS perfectly charmed
with Mr.. Whindlor's letter In last sunday's
TRIBUNE about tho socallcd spelling reform y;
and wish It might bo printed periodically for
t'hc hcnct oi these at lcast to mel particularly
odlons innovators.
Whun Iseu this anxiety to chnneo the bcaus!-
ful asld gracious physfognomy Of our mother
tongue Into the disgusting caricaturo Of It madu
familiar TO us by Josh BiIllnge, Petroleum V.
Nasty, and Hosea Dlglow Il always p.ticd
Jamcs Russell Lowell for STOPPING to write my
totng thut looked 80 nauacat!ng und so vulgar as
the Yankee dialcctD y, feel convinced thut there
uro people In America who would dance on their
mottcrs graves.
because our noble English, by It's force, sim-
plicisy OF construction, lnd cxprcssvcuess, Is
rapidly imposing itself upon the peoples Of tic
earth atd pushing aside their wcakcr LAM
guagcs, then for Meir accommodation, torsooth.
It's spelling has rot to be rcvolutionized so that
VIC who have inheEitcd It cannot recognize 1t!
ttNo, thanks" What was good enough for
Spencer, shakspearc, Milton, George Washing
thorne Ia good enough Tor nny incn nn1 women,
be they counted by millions or By billions tl,ut
como alter them. And, as for saving three
yea1s to American children BY teachlnF them to
be taught to read in Que year now. II they have
good teachers. I have seen 1t done BY iny own
mother Mnd slater over anu over ngaln, both III
tho fa,nily unl tn ihr primary school.
or course In language used by such i'm
mouse populations, ulia throughout such tn
nlcnse areas, some nbbToylat!ons ind changes
will from t,nc to t!no appear. But how few
gould naturally do 50 may bo inferred from
Will bo found to differ surprisingly l!ttlo IRON
the language as now spclled. For language,
lkc trse' is living, organic thing. II grows
md ssnas 1osth ncw ronr branches 9 as .d,d 3D.
u,lcs. This phonc.!c. spolssng, on the contrary,
wuu'd make the whole language drop ail lis
branches and Icares ut once, anil sprout ont
airesh Nil Overlooked, angufas. mud "ugly rs
sin.n
Fortunately. us Mt. Whndler so forcibly re-
marks, body OF 1U0 900 900 Of people Is not so
cusy to move, mud every book tn cvory English
family or Eng'Ish library on tho globo is nga.uss
Bit how Fundamentally absurd is this crusade.
To get phonet.c spelling, sou hava got, III the
trss place, to got HnJor1n 1npronnacfdston,-abous
tho widest dream Of imposslb!ity that could be
the New~Yorkers do not pronounco tho Il In
which, why, when, md tile like, while Amcrl-
ca,s In general do. Wh!cl, nation, I ask. Ia to
gct The phonetic standard for tfoso wordsa
English people pronounce tlle Ia various words
brta.Il rs "enhn't, lahstt, pahst,na:: in-
steaa Of short tcant, last, pastG as
e5o.y S0:s et Rdes otc9s ae say aSus a car fq H
But tho letter r Is perhaps the most hopeless Of
uuy. llavo talked With Mr. Ellis, OF London,
ono of the Original enthusiasts In this matter,
nnd h4 cannot pronounce tha r IL nl1ny words M Ut
.'wcally" antl "vc-oy" for "rcallyn ind
"ycry," as we pronounce them. III Boston
they say "puhfcct {ns ncarly Us can phnncslviso
i, though the ilrst syllable is mosu nearly like
fect,n and 10 Clileago 1t is "l'"rrloet." Now is
The phonetic-spel'cr, to cnangc hts spelling Of
tho word "perfect" /" according to Ills locallty'
And SO ot thous!.d e;.sss ;r IN s1hosrt, 1s the
efldurablo thing nbout It are tho disngrre'nenta
| Of The "foncti|kcrs " themselves. These find
truly delightful, aud Il they mllst daily parade
huanpy tass tas sr bs1sro vetzea t PHI
Of their maducss, the better, But there Is, un-
fortunately. a prIc,!ca! ade to that question,
and II Wcro School Committee lt,an tllcro ts
one thug would 90 pretty quickly. wol,ld
| sight that dared 10 mind tho phonetic rcconl.
| lnendatlona Ut tho confereuce OF teachers OF
last summer at tho Whitu MI, N. H., and
uso my utmost influence to have him Or lcr dis
I enee Matle out q very lQrgc list OF words OF
which 1t adyael teachers not to correct thclr
schuiars' m!sspell'ngs whom these wcro accord.
LtsisIatursa rass upon this thing, sclool-
tcaclers lsad brt.ur mind tho ietlera Of Tho laws
Of the lul.d, und hope thut citizens will
look out for tho men they rlcct to the
School boards, und know wl,cttcr Or not thcs .
authorities aro IN league with The destroycrs Of
tic wfttteu 1tauiu Of the English language, or
whotAcr they intond III good faith TO havo tho
children taught good spo!lIng after the rccog-
nlzcd standards. A ianruaee has q face-tllc
printed paxo--as much ns j human being, and
to chas,ge 1t lu the arbitrary ways proposed
would e. a barbarism akin to shaving on tho
hatr and tl1e syshroWs, pulling oat ,h.. ths ".
asss, and cutting ~ .te Up q the m,,d nose O.
much money Involved 10 tho "spoIllng re-
form I" to belicve that all tLeso retortnera nre
dlslnterestcd. Millions OF nov textbooks
would b. required, aud thousands Of noodles
could earn their btoal With great uaso while
compiling them. Let tho PUBLIC. and paEttcu-
Inrly the women, who universally love what Is
beautiful. aud who generally reverence what
ought to 10 sacred, stand on guard over our
matchleas language, and save It from IT, would
| bo Mutators. Mrs. 81. +. +,