Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-05-26


Gladstone, the eminent English scholar,
advocates the reform that shall bring sound
and sign nearer together. Prof. Toy, of
Harvard, says; 81 am heartily in favor of
pushing the reform" Prof Allen, of Har-
ward, wishes "t the sanctity attaching to
the current modes of spelling impaired as
soon as can be DONE" Prof Mather of
Amherst, hopes "the public will realize
how much time is wasted in learning and
perpetuating the worn. out antiquities of our
photography" Prof Tyler, of Smith College,
says sit may not be desirable to change
the written form with every change of
speech, but there are many points in
which the present spelling of the English
language represents little or nothing ex.
cept the fossilized history of words. Can
we afford every time we write word to
burden ourselves to detail its history {?
Ought the simple process of learning to
spell be bound in with laborious study of
etymology?" Prof. Owen, of Lafayette
College, says "Very few who hay an
intelligent interest in the subject dout that
a reform of our spelling is desirable there
ar more, probably, who ar not convinst
that it is possible. What we need now is
that those who ar conyinst shud hav the
curage Of their convictions and begin.
Prejudice will never yield to handful of
scolars, however eminent, nor to the de-
hverances of Termed societies we must
wear it out quietly by making the eye
sight of the people familiar with more "a.
tional forms of words. A few such forms
ar. hap. enqt, tho, aIa6et, tonetic. flologi.
cal. publish. snccessio sprinkled thru the
columns of the best newspapers without
proclamation or defense, vii do more to-
ward bringing about the reform than col.
umns of discussions.
The sound spelling in the foregoing ex.
tract appears strange to the eye, but let
the reader turn back to works of century
and a half ago and mark how much more
strangely the style appears out of which
we have progressed by gradual processes.
But to continue our review of the dis.
tinguished scholars Of to-day who favor
reform Prof. Hunt, of Princeton, be.
lieves the movement more promising now
than at any previous date, because of the
number and high character of its advocates
and agencies. The present reform began
only in the year 1876 He calls attention
to the fact that in 1880 the Commissioner
of Education and the Secretary of
the Interior officially indorsed the
reform and urged it's introduction
into the common schools, while in
England there has since been a strong
desire to adopt feasible and rational
spelling reform. The reform is not to be
violentor immediate, nor to be accomplished
by abrupt departures from precedent and
tradition. DR.. Joseph Thomas, of Phila-
delphia, says concerning the reform 81
am persuaded that there is no subject at
the present time more deserving the earn.
est attention of the true friends of educa-
tion, to say nothing of moral and religious
enlightenment. The greatest philologists
of England and America are a unit,
and the leaders are Whitney and
March in the United States, and
Muller, Sayce, Skeat and Sweet in Eng
land" Prof. Harrison, of Washington,
and Lee University, says: "We must con-
vince editors, writers of textbooks, and
the great printing establishments, of the
essential weakness of the existing or.
typography, its monstrous inconsistencies,
its benighted methods, and the great wrong
it is doing to the minds of boys and girls
and men and women by perverting their
logical sense" Prof. Blackwell, of
Randolph Macon College, says San or
biography that makes good spelling
costly accomplishment, that obscures the
history and the pronunciation of words,
and that retards the spread OF education,
cannot stand before persistent and enlight-
ened agitation. Prof. Currell, of
Hampden. Sidney College, says 81 am in
favor of a gradual, tentative reform, be-
ginning with the elimination of such obvi-
GUS absurdities as the in isle, in could,
and SO forth, and returning to such spelling
as agen, dropt, and SO forth-spellings that
must appeal to sense of chronological fit
ness. Once start the notion that phonetic
spelling is not nineteenth. century mon
strosity, and the old fogies that cling to
past traditions viii lend an ear to its
merits" Prof. Barkenwill, of Wander
bilt University, says 81 am prepared to
welcome any thoughtful effort on the part
of trained specialists to tighten the burden
laid on the memories of our girls and boys
by an arbitrary, illogical, unscientitc
mode of spelling. Knowing to some ex-
tent the language from Cedmon to the
present time, l am convinced that ety.
biological purity viii not be disturbed by
a just and proper reform" Similar expires.
sions are made by President Flowell, Uni
versity of Minnesota; Prof. Barnes,
of the Iowa College; Prof. Macy,
of GIinnell; DR.. Vickory, of st. Louis
Prof. Joynes, of South Carolina College
Superintendent Rogers, of New Orleans /;
President Warren, of Boston University;
President Cattel, of lafayette; Prof. Child,
of Harvard President Scott, of Ohio Uni
versity Prof. Rolfe, Cambridge; Prof.
Wright, Dartmouth Prof. Lounsbury and
DIR. Williams, Yale Prof. Packard, Prince
ton Prof. Garrett, University of Virginia;
Profs. Youngman and King, of Lafayette
College Prof. Marratt, OF Marietta Col
lege; Prof. Road, of Columbia College
David Dudley Field, William q. Arnoux,
A. J. Requier, DIR. Henry c. Potter. DR..
R. Heber Newton, DR.. F. c. Ever, DR.. D.