Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-05-03


nches In diameter and full Of detail. Schmidt
afIir'ns that Lime. a minute, bright crater, pre-
~ented q different appearances In 1865 from wha
it had In ISL. and tnat these appearances could
not Do explained by any of the causes alluded t.
above Dir Webb. of England, though inclined
10 believe that there are no great changes on the
moons surface going on nOw is Obliged to sa,
That there Is still a residunm of minute varia-
tons, which can be accounted for only BY
changes going on. DIR. Klein, Of Germany. has
found in the ''Mare Vsporum" crater that be
claims is new one. Some observers agree with
him. others do not. Now that they were In pos
session Of the drawings made by Schmidt and
the photographs taken by Rutherford and Draper.
Of New York city, they were better able to study
this question of change on the moons surface.
A Suggestion to Spelling E1ef0rmers.
From the New York Tribane.
correspondent puts to the Boston Journal
the following conundrum:
Mr.. EDITOR: Tell me why colonel
Is spelled In style so infolOnelf
Slej one ray OF light
On a Sorrowful wight
Who for years has subscribed for tho JOl0nol.
We suspect the propounder or this question is
merely q spelling reformer in disguise, and. act
ing on that assumption, we have suggestion
to make to him and those who stand with him.
But before making this suggestion we may
premise that it strikes up that this reform Is o
plant of such extremely slow growth that those
WHO planted and have watered it must feel
heartily discouraged. Up to date the revised
spelling, like the revised version OF the Bible,
has not become at all popular. Here and there
q newspaper drops the ne at the end Of words
like dialogue, where the preceding vowel is
short; drops the final In such words as definite
where the preceding vowel is short; drops the
final te In words like Quartette and cigarette;
drops the final me i'm words like programme. and
changes ph for in phonetic. philosophy, and the
like. But the Journals that have adopted these
Innovations are few and far between that
their combined influence as spelling refOrmers
however great We may assume it to be, Is. when
compared with the counter influence OF the
newspapers which are not spelling refOrmers,
ut as the small dust of the balance. It does,
Indeed. take but q little leaven to leaven the
whole loaf. but the leaven of the spelling re-
formers will have sensby to increase in size
before it can leaveA the current spelling OF the
En@list-speaking race. And now for our sug-
gestlOn: Gentlemen of the American Pathological
Association, why not adopt resolution at your
next annual meeting to this effect:
Resolved, That hereafter no member OF this asso-
Citation Will c0untenance irregua rifles in adject-
Ives or verbs but will treat all such parts OF speech
as IL they were what they ought to be, amenable to
the rules which regular adjectvcs and verbs obey.
That this resolution is simply admirable must
appear to every spelling reformer upon mo
ments reflection. They all present IS their
leading argument in favor OF spelling reform,
that our language as it now stands presents
great and entirely unnecessary Inconvenience
to those engaged in learning It. Says one of
their leaders in paper advocating the reform:
THE English language, from the simplicity Of
its grammatical structure, would be one OF the
easiest in the world to learn where it not for its
abOminable spelling" COntinuingin this vein, he
protests against the ''illoyica and tedious drudg-
cry OF learning to read and write English as
speit at present" Now we submit to the spell
Ing ref0rmers that where one person complains
OF the difficulties In spelling, one hundred be-
come broken-hearted In attempting to master
the irregular verbs and adjectives. The men,
Der Ofthe American Pathological Association who
rises superior to the existing order Of things
sufficiently to abandon tcent and gone and to SUBJ
stitute COED in their place for the past and per-
feet tense Of the verb to go, or who resOlutely
adopts goooer and coolest respectively as the
comparative and superiative Of good, will do
more to simplify the English language and make
1t meet for the Inheritance of those who are to
come after u than dozens Of his brother re-
formers who go no further than "dialog," 'de-
f1nt, quartet and program"
The innovation which we hint at invites adOp-
tiOn not only on pathological but on moral
grounds. To say that an adjective or verb is
irregular Is to admit that 1t is not what 1t ought
to be- And IL our aim in life Is perfection in all
things why should We 90 on year after year.
decade after decade century after century con-
doning Irregularities in words. when we have It
In our power to cure those irregularities? Words
are but the garb of thought. Thought Is simply
action in the making. Who shall say that to
make light Of an irregularity in verb does not
make an irregularity In thought and action seem
less wicked than it would seem If We remem-
bered that lit is the first step that counts?"
We urge all progressive spelling reformers to
ponder upon this suggestion of ours. confident
that the longer they regard it the better pleased
they will be with it. What an unspeakably
grand thing 1t would be for mankind If meet
Ing could be had of the pathological associations
of every nation and kingdom under the sun. at
which by unanimous consent all irregular verbs
and all other irregular parts If speech In all
languages should be reformed into regular verbs
Until such action is taken. in spite Of the efforts
Of the philolOgists. the Tower Of Babel will con-
tinue to cast it's baleful shadow upon those who
fam would learn to read, write and speak
correctly.