The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1886-05-16
A PLEA FOR BAD spELLsRs.
Some Curious Fatiisgs of Educated
writers Letters That Will Twist
ThcmscIvcs Into wrong Positions in
Spite OF the Most studied Cnrc.

/
Writers letters That VIII Twf-
Thcrnsclvcs Into wrong Positions Il
Spite OF the Most studded Cnrc.
A curious paper on "Chirography," b.
DR.. Grace Peckham, printed in the Ncd,cd
Record and editorially commented upon II
the Times, is suggestive of the whimsical pc
ouiiarties OF people Ia regard TO spell
ing. 1t Is likely to be insisted upon 10y tbos
OF pedagoaic turn Of mind that an educate,
person must never make a mistake in spell
ing, or that the least blunder IN the group
ing together of the letters forming a word i
convincing proof that the intellectual train
| ing OF an individual is far from being per
feet. 1t will be found in daily experenc,
that to be absolutely perfect in spelling Is b,
| no means to be taken as the criterion of al
educated man or woman. There are tn,
| queerest and strangest twists in mans mind
for there are certain words over which PEG
pile stumble, and they will live all thei
lives in haay condition about the spelling
| Of them.
The case presents itself 10 the writer Of
gentleman whose essays are considered val
liable for their thought and excellent az I,
style, who with such simple words as "there'
and "their" invariably blunders when h,
writes them. As to the grammatical value.
OF these two words, IL would be an insult 4
him II he were charged with not having tn,
clearest appreciation of them. looking owe
| his manuscript the distinctive "i' appears
now and then, but only right by chance. II
| three pages of his copy once the essayist h al
| corrected the word, and once in trying L
make "there" right he has interpolated al
| ~" and made IL all wrong. The gentleman
| himself acknowledges this strange freak, fol
| he says:
III appreciate fully the difference between
the two words. think their the posses
| sive plural and see the Il, but can't al
ways write II. II any one else made the
mistake In his copy l might or might moi
correct 1t. hit were printed the blundei
would strike me at once. II I could dictate
would have typewriter. have tried "a
correct these absurd theirs and there's,
hut when do halt over them and puzzle
over them exactly as I did when was seven
years old. I have thought of inventing two
signs for those cursed words. did try, but
II was of no use. As far as there and
their 60, shall remain an ass all my
lifs."
In order to determine whether the infor.
mant might not be eccentric, insisting on
some mental disturbance he did not really
have, the writer of this paper asked the
gentleman to take pen and print "there"
and their" and then to introduce the two
words into sentence. This was done with.
out mistake, the gentleman saying: az am
doing It under stress" About ten days
afterward a note was received from this
gentleman, not long one, perhaps of
fifteen lines, and "there" and "their," oc.
curing five times, were misspelled three
times. The gentleman laughed afterward
and said al am now going for the rest of
my days to spell all the there's the re, no
matter under what circumstances, and then
half my chances of error will be removed. 1
must he right once in twice." he gravely
concluded.
Here is really curious case of another
literary man, who contributes very clever
fiction to the magazines. This is his abso-
Lutte and truthful confession "Is am afraid
to give my material to an editor who is not
thoroughly acquainted with me or my ante
cedents, and who has not already bought my
stories, or who does not know that what
write people like to read, for am that un.
fortunate creature whose spelling may b,
good or bad according to circumstances. In
other words, belong to that miserable cate
CORY of human beings who are to be classed
among the accidental spellers. What do
mean by thati Imay write fifty pages of
manuscript with very few errors of spelling,
then all Of a sudden on page ffty.one will
come blunder after blunder. Words correctly
spelled and used over and over again are all
wrong now. My mind of sudden halts and
refuses to arrange the letters properly. My
little boy of eight years old would deserve
thrashing for such vulgar blunders. NV
wife will sometimes read my copy and clean
1t up, bnt when am In hurry cannot
wait for her. Do you want to listen to the
story of my humiliationH took book
had made some time ago to well-known
publisher. He knew me by reputation, and
was politely received. The subject had
chosen seemed to suit him. He had the
temerity to read the first page of my manu-.
script; then he suddenly halted, and was
at once aware that he had found certainly
one, maybe half dozen, mistakes in spell.
ing. Under ordinary circumstances might
have corrected the blunders, but If the sale
of my work, or my life, had depended OH
spelling right off the doubtful words /
could not have done it. had no idea
how to spell them. was conscious that
they were wrong, but the ge graphy,
the picture, Of the word had entirely
faded out of my mind. might have
said to that bewildered publisher, Il
will spell those words quite correctly to day
or tomorrow, bnt just now 1t is impossible
1t did not hurt the valne of the
work, for that intelligent and forgiving pub.
Usher bought that book. l feel very much
ashamed of myself, however, whenever sac
him. fancy my mistakes arise from some
Sudden obliteration of the mental faculties,
for the confusion is not permanent. 1t goes
and comes. II say to myself, 'Now watch
out and see that yOu pay particular atten-
lion to your spelling couid not produce
hundred words consecniively. Yes, II wor-
ries me. Here is an instance happening to
me- to day: | am very much interested 10 alb. |
'tract science, and am reviewing for peri |
'dtcal a series of works on a particular topic, |
and have to take cOpiOus notes. wrote the |
simple word many NANCY don't think |
ever put the 'e' in before. That extra se'
me. was conscious that It !
looked funny and original. 1t seemed ludi-
IRONS, and It annoyed me. Then, after a
While, did not know whether II was right
'r wrong. l had to call on my little girl |
md ask her to spell many for me. Az
ong as live never shall write made and
maid without shying at them. The verb
md the noun are utterly distinct, but never
.heless have to think whether THE Made
II orleans' is right as far as It refers to Joan
II Arc. It's trick OF forty. odd years
.tanding. Despair ia another word.
despair of ever writing 1t without feeling
n uncertainty. want to make it 'despars.'
have a pitch battle with my pen
before I can work in the H. and as often
10 not put the in the ~ after the word ia
written. won't write desperate n ever
AN help 1t, but must write sdespairate.,
It's my worst case of mixing words. pause
llways at whether and weather. though |
lever blunder there, but you might put
pistol to my head and not prevent my writ.
ng hypOcrite' 'hypocrit;' that final 20
lropped ont OF my head years on years ago.
Do you want me to expose my imbscility
urtherl never could write aquatic or
aqueduct' but properly, and would be in
apable of laundering with aqua marine,'
mt the chances are ninety In the one hun.
lrsd that II ! wanted to write aquarium I
honld make 1t 'acquarium.' always
tanker, too, after making quarter, one
ourth, 'quater.' have hatred for that
ntsrloping r. My daughter coached me
most hsroically about agreeable with an "a
'ut when she found | pushed the "a into
greeament she gave me- up in despars--no,
d-e-s-p re- ! was shamsd into 'princi.
'aP because had to write toths principal
II n school about INV laotur;,o l,,fo.. 4.