The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-10-10
BAD SPELLING.
oerAfbrt ksf Those whose Memories Fall
10 Keep Track of the Exxspersttng Meth.
ods Of English spelling.

essAsDrt ksf fsoss whose Memorie. fai
10 Resp Track Of the Ex.sperstine Meth
DDS Of English Spelling.
The theory is now advanced that, in
addition to narrowing the soul and tor
menting the spirit, our system. or
rather non-system Of spelling actually
tends to damage the mind. Any mum.
Der of persons who have been deadly
foes Of photography from their infancy.
and who freely confess to never spell
ing word according to approved Gus
tom save by the sheerest accident will
approve this idea off hand without for
moment accrediting its advocate with
the discovery of a new physiological
truth. A very large part of the En-
glish writing world lie firmly of the opin.
ion that the man who devised our
wrerched combinations Of vowels and
ecusorsnts had especial instruction o.
the Evil One with the deliberate purpose
to facilitate the population of the
neither world.
1t is certain the frenzied struggle of
the mind to keep account of the
arbitrary and illogical methods of
spelling is exasperating in the extreme.
and there should be no wonder il
mental quality and moral rectitude
suffer. grievods Consequences through
the Slips 81 the purely mechanical
process upon which correct spelling is
dependent.
English spelling is governed by no
rational rules. and it is entirely 3
matter of memory whether an in
structed person spells well or ill.
Considering the number of cantanker
GUS words there are in our language,
from the simplest. in ordinary use to
the rarest and most cdmples. the strain
put upon the mind TO remember the
order and quantity of letters requisite
to given symbol is out of all proper
ton &c tee tax upon memory of really
,srviceable information and fruitful
IDEAS. We are compelled to a
greater concern for the character than
the significance of word and exhaust
ourselves retaining the form to the fire.
auent sacrifice Of the mean1ng. As
letters are dry, sterile. unproductive,
suggesting no thought and controlling
no sentiment, the youthful mind pun
meled by necessity to memorize theft
sound relation to various words must
without advantage. expend great
amount of vital power that should be
concentrated upon the acquisition of
actual knowledge. Nothing is more
difficult than making logical, thought
full, active minds good spelling appar-
abuses. Spelling is a purely mechanical
science, in which even a strong will
may count for little. 1t is monstrous to
cram children with these meaningless
combinations of confusing sounds. lying
accents and silent excuses, irritating
their young brains, checking their
youthful imaginations by conditions
they can not comprehend and which
steal from them the time that might
better be devoted to practical studies
they would pursue with delight.
The suggestion has been made that
children should first be taught to read
by the phonetic process, leaving the r0-
mantle inconsistency for niaturer years,
a suggestion the wisdom Of which has
been attested by highly Successful
experiments in that very way. There
are several phonetic systems that
offer solutions to the problem,
and it is not TO be doubted
the introduction of any one of them
would be of considerable benefit in
primary education. A writer for the
Popular Science Monthly covers this
pc mt fully when he declares, by no
means as dogmatically as it may seem.
that rational education will never
flourish as it should till reformation
in the teaching of reading and spelling
has been accomplished.
In plain terms this means that words
should, as far as practicable. be spelled
as they are pronounced Words should
be nothing more than the outlet OF
thought; but one would think the
English compounds were fendishly
planned to bewilder and debilitate the
mind. for, unless writer plunge:
desperately ahead regardless of the
choice of letters to the formation OF q
word. ideas must suffer disaster while
the exact symbol is being extracted
from the tumble of like surrounding
signs. There is demand for uniformi
ty of pronunciation or difference in
| spelling for nine-tenths of the words il
our language. 1t is maddening to find
dough-" cough" and tough" sport
ing such wildly dissimilar sounds, ant
we can account for the lunacy thai
drove "done" SO far away from '.cone.
''lone," ''tone, bone or RELOCATED
dog" and ''hog" to different spheres
Neither can the rational rule be found
for transposing the vowels in receive
nd l.al for oh rrit Gva
sounds of ''indiet" and ''interdict, oil
for loading down word with letters
that are forever silent.
The defenders of all these monstrosi
| ties of composition as constrasted to
speech make plea for the preservation
cf the signs that indicate the or; IN Of
| words. Who cares for the origin
| of words when laboring to give
birth to a sentiment Words are moi
| esteemed for their pedigrees. but fol
| the uses. and their usefulness depends
upon the intelligent facility of theil
| beng brought into play. It is the en-
| deavor of the mind to vent itself sue
cinctly and clearly that gives rise t.
slang, and if the word reformers do no
come to our rescue we will eventually
build this slang into a new vernacular
and establish language of common
sense in place of the HYBRID that trie.
by artificial sounds and superlluou
| parts to indicate its mixed paternity
Language has always been the supply
of demand. the medium, not the con
trolling power of thought, and we arr
constantly tending toward those term,
that will most simply and most compre
hensively record the phenomena of thu
mind. The wonder is that we hav,
| done so well mentally with such bat
means as our English words. 1t is tim,
to write English as she is spoken. - Chi
| cdQ0 Inter Ocean.
A MONEY DRESSER.