The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-07-19

lower orders OF being. Al ougut aiso W w
casion surprise to know that many ski'fui
lluguists and accomplished scholars nave
declared themselves In favor OF what they
cal, the 80 spelling reform "-tbat is, OF
smelling words In the English language as
they are pronounced Evidently tue man
uer Of writing our language some hundreds
Of wears ago was FOR every man to spell tue
words exactly as be thought they ought
10 be pronounced; but the numerous
wsys IN which almost every word was
spelled BY our industrious and pains-taking
s,rciathers furnish sufficient evidence that
uniformity In spelling can never be attained
In The effort to spell according TO SOUND
oueen ELmABErH learned under ROGER
AscHAx, her Scholemaster," to use the
Latin language almost as II 1t had been ner
mother tongue, but she never became ex-
merit in the art OF spelling words In the
English iauguage-that IL, 10 any gwen
way, though Of course she spelled correctly
enough according to rules which allowed
each person to spell as he pleased ana
which, by the way, are, as we understand
n. the rules that our American spelling re-
formers desire to have adopted in this coun-
try.
We suppose that uniformity In spelling
has tendency to secure uniformity IN pro-
nunciation; and this, without regard to the
letters used in spelling words. The people
Of all parts Of the United States pronounce
the Epglsa language so as to make them
selves easily understood anywhere in the
Union when away from home. 1t was
matter upon which the delegates to the Gin
cnnati Convention might have prided
themselves that nearly every man who
opened his mouth to speak pronounced bis
words Just as nearly all his auditors In that
vast assembIage would have had him to
pronounce them IL they had been consulted
on the subject. The ill-mannered nobody
who criticised Governor STEvENsoN's pro-
nuncation only proved himself to be un-
worthy OF that gentIeman's notice. But
this uniformity ia pronunciation has come
from uniformity in spelling; and would
never bave come IL instead Of having
standard dictionaries and appealing to their
authority, the custom OF former days had
been continued, and everybody had been
permitted TO spell as he thought the words
were pronounced.
The word barrel" is easily pronounced
hereabouts. In fact we have seldom heard
1t mispronounced. Yet we do not think we
N
there are fifty thousand people in West Viz
ginia and Western Pennsylvania (where as
a rule they pronounce more accurately than
we do in Virginia) who cannot correctly
pronounce that word. TILDEN's "bar'l"
Is often the subject Of joke in the north
ern papers; but our people do not know
why 'barrel" should be spelled "bar'l."
1t is done because there are so many thou
sand northern people who cannot be taught,
nor persuaded, nor compelled, to pro-
nounce the word otherwise than as in
dcated by the combination OF letters en-
ployed--" bar'l ITO rhyme with "marI."
Now, the practical question is, How would
our reformers spell such words. So as to
"suggcst." We saw 1t spelled "sud Jest"
tue other day by reformer; but some Of
the best authorities say that it ought to be
pronounced "sug-iest Zone "g" hard
and the other soft. Are all authorities TO
be thrown aside? Not at all. No true Gre
former" is going to give up his idols.
- Suggest" will be spelled in as many diff
ferent ways as it can be accurately pro-
nounced according to WEBSTER, PERRY,
WRIGHT, WALKER. KNOWLES, SMART, WoR-
cEsTER, COOLEY, GULL, JOHNSON, and all the
rest OF the photographers. So as to "mss-
ter" "psalm," PALM" can't" and such
like words. Are these to be spelled with
the Italian ga" or with the ga" Of
" hat"? We need not answer. Those
" reformers" who think it right to say
-" mahster," or "moster," will write it
so, and those who differ with them will
write it master" "Tiny" will be
written "teeny" and "tiny"; "acet.
ic" will be written "ss .setic" aud
"asseetic"; "advertise" will be writ
ten "advertyZe" and "adyurtis." We
shall have "agen" and agane";
" alarrum " and "ala-rum "of'n" and
" often y; kimmistry" and "kemistry -;
"shammy," "shamma, sbamme,"
"sbamoi," and shammaw" for "cha-
mois - "immediate" and "immejate %;
&C.. &c. Think, too, how the names OF our
noble counties of Henrico and Powhatan
would suffer. You can't get Yankee to
pronounce either OF these names correctly;
and so Of course every reiormer" In the
North would write them "Henry-cO and
Powhattin." The "Youghiogheny
would become the " Yohogany," whereas
the reformers ought to spell 1t, "Yob-hy.
gany"; the Monongahela would be-
come the Mo-nongahelia," because no.
body that has not lived on its banks pro-
nounces its name correctly Think, too, Of
spelling Taliaierro" "Toliver," d" Beau.
champ" Beechem," "ChOlmondeley,"
"Chumley," "Pall-Mall," "Pal-Mal,"
Derby" "Darby," "St. john" "Sin-
jin," (as "St. Clair" is already Sinclair.")
There are thousands Of words, We con-
clude, which the performers" would never
and could never agree TO spell according
to any rule they could adopt. What would
be the consequence The language would
be put back where it was three or four
hundred years ago, and all vicious pronun-
Citations would be perpetuated. At present
there Is chance as well as growing proba'
bility that any word may come to be pro-
,lu
But let the reiormers" once have full