, 1881-07-31
SPELLING REFORM.
Fifth Annual Meeting of the Aso.
citation at Atlanta, Ga.
The Opening Addres by Presi.
= dent F. A. March.
Progress Being Made-siledt Letters to
Be Dropped.
This Article Speld iu tie Propozed
Method.

| st. Louts Republican, Julv2s .
| Ihe Association met Us department Of tn
| National Educational Association ut Atlanta
Ca, July 10 and p, and held its meetings II
DeGiye's Opcra-House.
The meetings were presided over by Vice
President ". Z. Harris, LID, of Concord
Mass.
Tho opening addres was prepared by Prof
+. d. March. LID. President Of the low;
State Normal School.
THE OPENING ADDREs.
Another year! and ngnn we ure abl to report
progress. This association was formed at an III
,ernauonal et convention III our centennial year
In 1877 VIC wer abb to congratulate ourselve:
on tho wonderful progres made in awakening
INC general public to the oadnes Of tho old spell
n 1s7s we reported tho beginnings of our con-
etructiy work. We had agreed on new alfabet
and me method Of progros towards its use.
IN lSs9 we held our nnunl meetings as de.
pnrtment OF the National Educational Asoel,l-
non. and our report OF progres dwcit much on
the opening OF our periodical literature to the
dfscuston 1s,!m and Illustration OF the reform.
| IN is60 ut Chautau1uh tho main topic of con-
graduation wls tho Introduction OF umented
spelling Into tho newspapers, and other publica-
| uons and tho great array Of authorities In letters
and science, who hud given the reform their
sunction.
This year our progress bus been quiet, rathor
| thau effulseut, There has been nothing sens:1-
| uonlu about 1t. This is In the nature Of tho
case After au invasion has been made, and tho
| great lights hnv been fought. there must folio
quiet years OF hard and obscure labor III occupy
| u: the conquerd territory After Newton had
discovered the laws Of the univcrs !, Thousand
cuIating tho application OF the Iaws to The COM
mon ftctS around us.
| We 5houd not loos heart, therefore, II tho
| general public Interest in our work seems les
forward IL
| dor tho Insurance that reason and economy ar
| permanent forces ti4at work afways and outlivo
past year may DO mentioned tho fre-
vativ and Influential publications Of j.
| spelling reform US matter Of interest," and i'm
pprtancc, and say 4 passing word or two for it.
such may have been noticed 10 the North Amer'-
icnn Iecriev, tho -dnte1ican Church Iericiu the
lth'uic Monthly. the FortuiQ1tttu leuiep, IY.de
-i,gnke. the Christian Life and the like
appeured in the Independent, tho Home Journui,
Go0u Li.erat,,re, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Intsr- Ocean,
Toledo Btade. Utica Herald, Cleveland Leader,
,,. Prof. WhItncy has given US az article ia tho
into Il new volume ut his, ''Chips from Germuu
reform. which first appeared in tho ForniVI,tlU.
Lie nuw priuts 1t tn fonetic spelling.
There nE two main directions III which ne ar
pushing tho reform. One starts with our pres
c11t spelling ulld seeks 70 ameud it gradually by
dropping silout letters and by other simple i'm
provnlents- Tho other urges pure foncctic
spelling.
The yradual improvers may count this year as
fairly good one
that the FsloloElcal Society OF London has been
induced by many apeals to take up tho matter
in ernest and APPOINT IL comitec to report upon 1t.
Mr. Sweet, the wei-kuDn leader Of .AnKlU-Snxou
scholarship in E.lgland bus lately made tho re-
port. Tho pan!tlct containing is entitled s. Par
till Corrections Of English Spe1lngs. Kccomcnd-
F{fnlnFir11 ufn
Adoption There ar thrty~thre pages Of IT,
a1s up Ct s,s Of oas to BE-
hav been illustrutcd in this articl. Most OF
them them consist IS n the DROPPING OF silent letters
menr against t. twenty lists Or speciacation;,
els fonetically misleading, as being used aftor
fl short vowel and u singl consonant- It is regu-
larry IN orthogralic expedicnt in such position
by good right to rime with slnve, rauc bruue gIrc
and THO like; so giue should ri1nc with hire, srs,
asirc. The verb Nrc is wrong too. There arc
dcfnii, tnRnu, grant, and SO on. Then there ar
lists III which an Is si1uply usees, the length
Of the preceding synbl is plain without it, us iu
DfltsCC, prleut, where the djfthoDK shows tho |
u sufficient guide It is aivizcd to chauge re to
baking this improvement vii no longer figure as
an Atnericauisn or Websterisn. We ar to |
drop tho OF -te in many words, dssem1l. nrl, |
-dbe -llc, and iclc, us In l'robdbl credibl a,til
It will tako us u long time to get rid Of al |
these c's.
nents For leopard s i and % 3coptr,,v m the Cider
nMn s6oud 70 l;o;aan: The gahlstorical ! Of
aud old French II should 10 restored in utuer,.
!suoernator nltscD, tts'H, ,cindcr, 1u.tr'n, and
long list Of words now spelt with o: Tho ori@i-
G M f0 ffr1t 4
long list Of words With n modern ou should go
back to their historic 1t; jur1,u Journey, .i'ul
doano) @ ;, dnary ,a uris' a;l. apd ID the lse; enoa
and through. THRU
After O. u is rong in nativ English words like
;atal,y icataosuc). ienle9og. dieog, isan.nq lha-
rnngueh and the like. The report also informs
Is 18th that words ending IN d. duoi D. dgm,r,t,
! great many words derived from, old
iuol cousqnants to make them look like L!tiu:
front is sprt into G5rDnt. q jai,r into aG1ir,
i -fort1ian into n0ord, a-ca,snt into nccurstd, as
ho list Is long. \ silent !, has bocu :ded with
tut rhine Or reason to InauY words: c,rssnb limb,
lnu.b, thumb: and for 4 very bad reason to I
4atinIsts hav in modern times inserted it Us Il !
cminder Of the Latin word from which IT orig |
nnly came: totn doubt ind det tdebt, for cx-
inpt, had lost The b OF tho f4atin tt,ibit-o and
chit i'll tho French from which tho old English
alnc: doubt aud dtt ar unhIsturic. since they
'otlti teach that took them from tho Latin
,s.el OF the French Many times ch Is rom.
tru the biuudering Of the Greekll1g5; nhr Is
he tru oI,1 spelling VI ache, rs Worcester takes
are to inform is; a1sc, has forgotten its Greek,
nd Mllskcrudes us anchor; for y is eomun: in
f1htcr, old English sinttcr, fancied to be from
10 French cE,uirc; pence. where c is for the
iural sIstl s; o,.ce where is for tho gently :,
nd the like.
Sorcrciun is another blunder Of >tho Latiuists,
ho Imagined II to DC Il compound or rtbn-o, 70
:iJn Instead Ut the adjcctiv sut,e1un-lts. Mil
III s,p111il hl.5 pleasant associations, but Mr.
Etct brands it ns ''n hybrid Italian spcing' |
g gives us sourciH but tnar is III l1lnchroll!sn
he words which ii, crly English wer spell ain
nd -ei7t FROM French -HilI t1ay ether taken ttll
which Is the eolnon rict, Or -cH. rs
tiztH, tienizsfl. Io=t,l, sudden, Or -u US htinun
he best historical spelling is sorcrci. So loren
OEciEnI Another truhlSum intruder Is Ult: 1t
thrust in by pure blunder III sprfJ'tlU delight,
,u huzg1!U, i'll did times sprittiy, ttclitc, nnd
4s1tB: and 1t is modern variation OF III 11,tny
ot.lS whert. b0rE arc now uselts; 3AouJI., FOR
i:lMple, though, through, and u0ltlipi. rs well
taliD}.tc': straight, Ueght. and tho like, which
lulld he spelled tho THRU, thoro, dAutcr, strut.
aft. Why should not stcctt be riteu us it used
be, lkb coNccH, tieceR and tho Like! So far
the y Of rEt7,tuS is concerned, It IL needed III
,c III more ttun II, tho others. III tch. is of
use: 'rittt is plain rs J9stch, ana the is un-
III III stlca words.
AL III. os. ctirfinG |