Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-03-05
DEFECTIVE SPELLING.
Great Men Not Perfect Masters of Our
Horrible photography.
Cincinnati Commercial.

Cincinnati Commercial
1t is rather small business to publish
letter from Senator Gordons pen to
show his capacity for ruisspelling words.
To be sure, there is the provocation of
his objection to the confirmation of Sim.
mons on the score of his illiteracv. Sen.
ator Gordon has had the advantages OF
liberal education, whatever his defects
in photography, and is understood to be
a man of high intelligence.
1t not infrequently happens that men
whose lives have been passed in the
| field of action rather than in the study
make wreched work Of the English
language in reducing it to written
forms. We have had able presidents,
governors, senators and representatives
who were not more letter perfect than
Senator Gordon.
1t is said that even the father of his
country occasionally misspelled word
or put a capital letter in the wrong
place, but his methodical manner pre-
vented many slips of the pen. But
some OF the most famous generals oil
the revolutionary period butcbered or
typography in frightful manner; and
even General Jackson, as is well known,
paid small heed to the spelling of words
or the punctuation of sentences. He
managed to make himself understood,
however, as we'll by his foes as his
friends.
One OF the men, now dead, VINO was
a few years ago recognized is the wheel.
horse Of the New York. state senate,
could barely write enough to sign his
name to documents, yet he was man
of vigorous thought and uncommonly
hard sense, and had great influence in
the councils of his party. Had he lived
he would probably have taken high
seat in congress, and been as potential
there as in the legislature.
1t will not do to assume that man
is an ignoramus because he spells IN
correctly. We have not quite forgotten
the spelling-match In Pixies Opera.
House few years ago, in which many
of our local statesmen, who aspire to
seats in Congress, and want to be
Governors and all that, and men, too,
capable of filling such offices, were
staggered by many ordinary words,
being deceived by their foneltic illus
ions.
Only short time ago we received
note from graduate of Harvard, and
fresh, too, from his collegiate triumphs,
in which many words were misspelled.
Errors in spelling are of common oc-
currence even among men who are
professional writers, who deal in words
with the freedom of bank cashier
with money. Probably there is no edi-
tor in the country who isnot puzzled
about the spelling of an occasional
word, and who does not have to consult
his dictionary to satisfy himself that he
is right. We know of q notable writer
whose manuscripts has to be revised
both for spelling and grammatical
structure of sentences before it is put
into the hands Of the compositor.
Instances illustrative of the tendency
to go wrong in spelling might be indeti-
nifty multiplied, without descending
to the unlettered multitudes to find
them. The fact is, there Is need 0fretorD,
IN the orttogr0tyof the language, and
many eminently learned men have de-
voted themselves to the devising of
system of spelling in which the ortho-
CRAZY shall be consistent with the sound
of words. Such a reform, however, is
the most difficult imaginable, and must
come gradually. Words which we have
been accustomed to see spelled in
particular way all our lives look often
sive in purely fonetic structure. We
do not take kindly to them, though reas-
on may approve it as the better and
more consistent method. Perhaps Sena-
tor Gordon's offense consists in adop-
ting the fonetic shortcut in spelling,
but, if he takes some liberties in that
direction, he ought to allow the same
freedom to Mr.. Simmons.