Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-28
Reformed Spelling.

HUMAN race, anu especially to the Eng
sh.spcaking race. And there never
was time when the activity of this
race was SO markt as now. Invention
follows Invention with such rapidity
that one day of the present is equal to
thousand years OF the early times.
Within our memories, almost. have
sprung up the ocomotive-engine. the
power printing. press, the Steamship.
the telegraf, the reaper and mower. the
sewing machine, the typewriter, the
electric light, and all TIE myriad of
machines that tighten and multiply
labor and promote the welth and com
fort of mankind.
But there is one machine that we
hav not changed nor improved for the
last hundred years or more. We go on
using this imperfect and cumbersome
instrument as our fathers and great
grandfathers did before us, and seem
unwilling to hav it improved in the
least degree. refer to the English
srthografy.
That the spoken language is the real
language, and the written is only the
instrument or dres by which the for
mer is represented to the eye, need not
be argued here. Five minutes con-
sultation OF any dictionary viii settl
that point. Now, why is it that we ar
SO unwilling to hav this Instrument
our orthgrafy-inproved? We spend
years in trying to learn its inconsistent
cies. We hav a dictionary at our ell
bow all our lives, but ar never able to
master it. Mary and Johnny ar kept
after school markt doHn in their stand
ing, and go home with tears in their
bright blue eyes and Indignation in
their honest young hearts, because
city spells "city," bat d-i-t-y does
not spell "ditty because .o-p.y spells
copy but poppy does not spell
poppy because r-u.u-g spells
"rung," but t-un-g does rot
spell tongue .; because no spells
no. but tho does not spell
though -; because bed spells "bed,"
but se-d does Not spell "said" be-
cause by srels "by' but h-y does
not spell high y; and SO on thro the
100 900 words of eur language.
We employ school teachers and tax
ourselves heavily for their support, in
order to perpetuate this old and i'm
perfect machine; we handicap our chill
dren with it in their race for an educa-
ton; we increase the alarming illit-
eracy of eur country by its use; and
we shut out the Bible and its blessed
influence from thousands who cannot
master the labyrinthian Inconsistencies
of this complicated machine-English
orthografy.
Why do we cling to it with such
tenacity? Simply because we hav the
old instrument in constant use, We hav
become accustomed to its appearance,
aud we dislike the inconvenience of
change. But the machine ought TO be
improved, nevertheless. How to i'm
prove it, how to change our present
orthografy SO that the written word,
which is only the mere dres or husk,
shall correspond to the spoken word,
which alone has life and growth-this
is one of the great problems of the
English-speaking race.-O. G. BLACK.
MER, in The Interior.
ELEGANCE OF HoME.-I never saw a
garment too fne for man or maid
there never was o chair too good for a
cobbler or cooper or king to sit in;
never house too fine to shelter the
human head. These elements are
about us, the glorious sky, the impe,
rial sun are not too good for the human
race. Elegance fits man. But do we
not value these tools for housekeeping
q little more than they are worth, and
sometimes mortgage house for the
mahogany We bring into it? I had
rather eat my dinner off the head of a
a barrel, or dress after the fashion of
John the Baptist in the wilderness, or
sit on block all my life, than to con-
sumo all myself before I got to home,
and take SO much pains with the out
side that the inside was as hollow as a
nut. Beauty is great thing, but beau
ty of garment, house and furniture
are tawdry ornaments compared with
domestic love. All the elegance in the
world will not make spoonful of real
hearty love, nor will whole shiploads
of furniture, and all the gorgeousness
all the upholsterers ia the world can
gather.
AN UNFORTUNATE MANNER.-A lady
may be we'll educated, we'll trained, and
possessed OF good manners, and still
have an unfortunate manner which re-
pels friendship. In city stores we Of,
ten meet with saleswomen whose air OF
supercilious Indifference, and icy re-
moteness from the least interest in us
or our purchases, sends us away half
frozen. There is an atmosphere of
forbiddingness about such stores; and
we are glad to get out of them into the
sunshine. On the other hand, we know
certain saleswomen who are so sunny,
so genial and so delightful in their way
of serving us, that to buy from them
Ia a nerfant nlaasura and they often