Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-04-17

An active association is Ia exist
ence that is earnestly striviiig, by
the dissemination OF Information
kand other ways, 10 make a begin.
ming toward bringing about reeii.
ticaii0n in the spelling OF English
wards. They donOt seek to accom-.
| plish the whole task at onces that
Is too vast a work 10 expect success
| iR, They are trying 90 indace peO-
+ pie 10 DO away with some 0f the
anomalies, aud 50 reduce the evil
that cannot be sabdued all at once.
No one can fail to see how silly 1t is
TO spell each differently, ''said, red
dead" when ''Ted, sed and ded"
give the same words uniformly and
quite as well. Who cam object 20
changes rs useful and as pleasant as
this? Any one can begin ii, and
why should not somebody begin n?
that iS 10 say, why should not some-
body leave the wrong and take to
the right ? s-But, - saws a reader
who can see the clear good sense Of
this proposition, ''Iny correspond
ents would not know that made
the changeo on an intelligent system;
they would think ] did not know
how to spell. This answer h lust,
and it is for this reason that persops
who are taking the course recon-
linended, have formed themselves
into an association, so as 70 secure a
large number to begin the correct
spelling tOgeth her, and to agree what
words or classes OF words all shall
take to spell Alright, as a commence
nteht. A large number OF persons
in the western states and la the up
per Mississippi valley are already
taking q strong interest in the pro-
posed change, perceiving the gctiu-
inc practical benefit that will flow
from it. lt may strike some read
efs of these lines that the prOposi-
tiOn to spell words rs we speak
them is something new and pnheard
OF; If so, they will draw a wrong
conclusion. An PHOTOGRAPHERS Who
report trials, speeches, and 50 ON,
proceed strictly on the system of
spelling every word as il Is pro-
nounced, and the name OF their sys-
tenn means ~Writing by sOund.n
Many languages do the same thing
habitually-~even the most ancient.
The Hebrew, for instance, With lis
vowel points, is beautiful and very
complete system of spelling accord
Ing to the pronunciation Nor is II
new in English, especially among
in this country. lfaD En-
glish publication of to-day is eXam-.
ined, 1t will be found that "cOior,
and parlor" are spelt ''col-
our, candour, parlour. F" ls che
american way the best 2 WhO can
think otherwise as they look at the
words as here printed F? If this
of change is good, why not
spread it, then, and spell words
right, instead of wrong Take up
an old English book, say of tho
time of Queen Anne, and notice
what an abundance ~ words that
every English writer spells right
now, were spelt wrong then. Buf
why do we stop in this rectitieatiOn
Just where we are? We see there
are endless words that remain with
4 wrong spelling, and Clearly the
changes should gradually
but perseveringly go ON, Perhaps
there may be a bold mind or two
the subject here pre-
sented who would dare make one Of
Ihe teachers By example 0TI this
subject, If they only knew the plan
hat was agreed upon as a begin
ming. We will insert the published
Jules upon the subject for the bene-
1t Of such, adding, by the way Of
at the start, that we
zee in the Chicago Tribune such
words as "filosofyn and ''uifabet," T"
Ind the paper neither looks nor
reads any worse on account OF them.
indeed the Appeal always prints
fancy" which used TO be 'phan-
"" but we must acknowledge To
itiekiBg 10 the old "phantaAnago
ia, y which should be "fantasma-
yoria,' FOR il is evident that when
'phancy" became "hncy," "phan-
asm" should have been spelt "ian-
asm." Here are the rules FOX q few
imple changes for all friends9f reg-
Onable spelling to begin with;
1. Leave out O In ea when the
5Owel is pronounced short, as helth,
led, insted.
=. lJ6ftNt OuA NiitNl hiAti cNplA
yowel, as hav, civ, infinit.
3. Use + for Ph when ph is go pro-
bounced, as telegraf, Orth0grafy,
.amfor. ~. ...,....I
A. When Ell at the end of a word
S pronounst Z write II so, as mkt,
asht, finisht.
All proper names must bespelt as
Isual. -r.t.... rtI
These changes will be sufficient
o start with, and great good viii
,e rendered the English language
wen by these alterations alone.
[We are not going to start them,
lowever; the CHRONICLE hopes to
'e read many years after these in-
loyators are dead, before it can be
aid that it consents to spell those
words red, ded, skI. There are
many considerations which should
fleet the orthography ofa language,
nd among them IL the preserva-
ion on the face of the language It's
Iistory. We give our neIghbor,
oweyer, the foori some day we
nay take It in reply. ED. CHRqN-
Gle. t.al
.Ttru, dgptot,attc o,,yr,y rl,,tf,,,