Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-17
7 o.
E-- vi Ess,

We have received from Mr.. III. Gamble,
of Philadelphia, thrilling appeal to join
him in the cult of FO. The FO introduced
to our attention by Mr.. Gamble has no con-
nection with Flo, the Chinese Buddha, nor
even with the misty parsonage FO-hi or
Fuh-he, who, according to Chinese tradi-
tiOn, invented marriage and first taught
the art of writing. CANDLES Philadel-
phia FO stands for FOnO-scribing, that is
TO say. the practice of writing the English
language phOnetically instead of by the
cast-iTOn rules Of photography. FOnO-
scriJing is fOreshOrtened to FO by getting
nearly in front Of the initial +, so that
nothing but the second letter shows from
behind it, and thus viewing the hideous
word with a raking fOre-and-aft glance.
The same process, it will be observed,
likewise reduces Fool, Folly, FOOlishness
and FOOLS erFand all to FO.
BY means Of FO, the enthusiastic Mr..
Gamble proposes to eliminate what he re-
CARDS as the unnecessary YOwels and con-
sonants in written and printed English,
thus saving time and space, and simplify
ing the process of elementary education.
He sOlemnly asserts his belief that the
photography of the English language is so
abOminably and outrageous complicated
that seven-eighths of the population never
get far enough advanced IN the spelling
book to read easily. To use his own
" y
laws Of helth, tn wizdm of tn sages, til bu-
till thots Of tn graf mastrs in litratur as
seald TO thin as if tina WI in anOthr In
guaj." The common spelling, he says, is
I the sSsilyst thing in histry. 1t is a Ing wa
round. 1t bids bac. 1t rqirs mntl efrt
s. diyrts ur enriys firm cmpozishn."
The curious thing about Candles mis-
sionary effort in behalf of FO is that he
discrGdits and denOunces the endeaVOrs
If MIR. Melyil Dewey and other Jealous
members Of the Spelling Reform Associa-
/ ton. He fears that these refOrmers or
NOR lrnd TIM wiz That is very possible;
perhaps Mr. Gamble is right. He is GER
tainly very much in earnest, and it seems
that he has already made a distinguished
convert in the person Of Hon. Joseph
! Medill. of the Chicago Tribune. Mr.. Me-
dill writes to Mr.. Gamble: Il en- Sc no cd
rem y cmpOsitTs ma mt I'm in flu ours to
st up tn TO copy" 1t is certain that if
this system is boldly adopted and consist
emily pursued by Mr.. Medill he can get a
good deal more reading matter, such as it
is, into the Chicago Tribune than that
newspaper now contains. Another emf
nent Blaine editor. Hon. Ellis III. Rob-
shown photographic tendencies in the di-
rectiOn of FO. For their especial benefit
we reproduce, in all the charming brevity
Of the Gambleian system, an important
document which both Mr.. Medill and Mr..
Roberts have thus far overlooked, perhaps
because its butih thOts were buried in a
great mass Of superhuous vowels and con-
sOnants:
OGUSTA, Jun %. 1869.
Ny DER INSTR FsHR: / think tr tn rtkl firm
INSTR Luis. 1t is gud in itslf, & wi do gud. He
rits lik mn of lri intljns & cmprnshn- Ur Off
to admit me to a prtcpshn in th nU ralrOd ntT-
PR is IN evry rspCt as jnrus as l cd xpct or
dsir. / think u very sncrly fr it, & IN tbs con-
ecshn wish to max a sujstn Of = smwht slfsh
kraktr. L spOk of INSTR KldWl dspOzug of a
shar of rs ntrst to me. II he rely dsirZ to do
so, wish he wd max tn prpsshn dfnt, so tint
cd no jst whit to dpud on. Prps # he watts til
tn ful dvlpmnt Of tn ntrprz he nit gro rlctnt
to prt with tn shar; 4 / dnt men by this ny
dstrust OF Inn.
dnJ fel tht I shl pruv a ddhd in tn ntrprz if
ono mbrk in it. / Sc varus chnls in VIII no
cn usn. Ur friend, JMs G. BLAN.
That is Blaine reduced to Fo. Beyond
this modest contribution to the cause and
to the literature of the campaign we can
not promise Mr.. Gamble, of Philadelphia,
to introduce his system into the columns
of the Sun. In the present state of civil
izatiOn we prefer the English language
with some flesh on Its bones.