The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-06-12
LATEST sPkLaIKs eaAxE

awhile In fussy activity, they subside,
and the world, relieved. g~atsfuiiy rests
in peace . little time, without = mos
quito net over its head. At intervals
for twenty years, all sorts Of hideous.
fantastic shapes were held up To public
view. Men stared at the ugly spectres,
and wondering at the mental cranki-
ness Of the word members. they went
on spelling rs usual, and % taught their
Children. Now q new n has come
over the fussy brotherhood. Finding
that they cannot behead, betail, and
disembowel every word that has n So
called silent letter before, behind, or
within it. they have determined TO
thrust in the thin edge Of the knife, by
melting a stray news printer TO curtail
. few unhappy words ut a time, In the
hope that the common sense public will
become used TO the sorry spectacle OF
the skeletonizei monstrosities. They
reason on the sentiment expressed by
Pope:
Vice IA q monster Of 40 frightful mein
A. 10 be hated. needs but To be seen;
Yet, seen too on. familiar with her lAce.
We nrst endure. then pity. then embrace.
They propose to disembowel such
words as head, health, and print them,
he'd, helth. etc. We presume that all
words with obscure or silent letters will
In time share the same fate, and silent
become silnt-excellent dwindle TO xlnt,
etc.
They propose TO omit the final letter
Of are, have, give, etc, and make them
mr., hav, Civ. What snappy, ~staccato
words they will becomel W. limo
Gently have Imagined there WA a slight,
long-drawn, softening sound effect Civ
en- by the final e, like the dying cadence
Of an organ note; but the reformers
seek 10 knock all the poetical euphoni-
Gus smoothness out Of the words.
Their ears need educating.
They propose TO slaughter mercilessly
the equivalent Of the Greek PHI. and
substitute the letter Z, and spell cam
for, alosofy, fantom, ~fotogrrph, etc.,
and 10 curtail all double enders, max
skill shrink TO skill, spill TO spill, egg to
eg, etc.
They propose to change cd final TO t,
.when IL has the sound OF t." tignor-
ing the fact that II W has the sound
Of / In the mouth Of correct speaken,)
and TO turn lashed into lasht, fixed In
10 hxt. etc.
The elephants trunk having been
squeezed In, our modest spelling reform
ers expect to push In the entire quad
ruped. Then II will DO insisted that
every obscure or silent vowel shall be
elected, and, despite Of all etymologic
and topographic properties. n multitude
Of plumpy handsome words will be de-
nuded Of their fair proportions, and
viii stand in shiyering nakedness In
this wise:
armed rmd beau DO
beauty but elegant legnt
e~ngrossed ngrost enwrap nrap
offender ofndr pewter putr.
And a pretty mess Of pi they will
mako. We respectfully suggest that
the innovators 60 a step further, and
drop all vowels, and Substitute points,
after the manner of Hebrew words.
Why not?
We presume that, after accomplish
ing their present partial shrivelling
purpose, the revolutionists will break
ont into a ferocity that shall eclipse the
spirit Of Danton and Robespierre. and
q multitude OF fully rounded, honest
words will be worried and torn, and
nothing left but skinny skeletons, ugly
and deformed enough TO make young
learners s~quint-eyed, and unintelligible
enough to drive etymologists mad.
After our native words have been
shredded till they look like skeletons in
a surgeons closet, perhaps the ''fonet-
ic" fanatics will look for other words
to conquer. The French would be n
good language to begin with; but what
q job they would have! Life would he
too short for the work; and the restless
ness of the iconoclasts would subside
into the quietness of mans last sleep
before they could decide even how to
begin the attack on that language Of
shrugs, winks and jerks.
The cunning deformers modestly
complain already that ''nine-tenths Of
the brains Of scholarship and common
sense in America are on the side Of re-
FORM We do not see very clearly
what Is meant by ''the brains Of schol-
arship and common sense" but the
phrase Is oil n par with their other alb
surditles. May true cnmmon sense de-
liver u printed tongue (tung, they
would make IT. from uneasy expert
mentors who should devote their super
Huous force to some useful end.-Iypo-
graphical Advertiser.
Mothers, Mothersa Mothers,n
A. =, a;st,rt~ad ~ p;uht and hra.