The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-20

every day words.
Education has taught you how to spell
these words with two letters "a" and ''l'
always together Eever separated by "u,"
and pronounced generally ''op' precisely like
the proper sound of the "ap' in Spalding.
do not see any force in the argument
that there are few words (making the ia
nous exception that proves the rule) like
assault, which have 'u'' between the "a
and the 81" Because, no one ever pretend
ed to spell these words in any other way
than that in which they are now spelled. II
there had ever been such words as cdlif0lger,
fdH, mat, halt, rdlt, or dssdlt, without any
"u'') the objection might be reasonable, that
| Just In the same way, IL Is correct to put the
offending letter into our family name. But
have looked far and wide, and fail to find
| In any dictionary, any such curious spelling
cred, we may acknowledge some reason or
rhyme for the ''u' which some people insert
into Spalding.
What we desire then, is simply the regular
nearly all of the words which lately re-
cited before you; or as you pronounce 1t In
| swan. watch, swap, etc. Or again, as in the
1 same way you Will see on some old French
maps, Boston spelled Baston, the "a" hav-
| ing precisely the same short sound that the
| correct pronunciation gives to Boston, the,
| hub of the universe.
Now then, although we Spaldings do not
pretend to claim any descent from the heroes
/ OF William the Conqueror, flor we think the
family is older far than that yet let us say,
| that not long after these days, as one can see
| in ancient English documents. there were
| Spaldings not few, and that all OF the fam
| lily who could spell did spell the name cor
rectly, that is to say. Of course, without the
''u."
Thus in 1867, Henry de Walpole notice the
absence Of the "u" in the first syllable OF
that name) sold to John de Spalding large
amounts Of land in Tynington.
In 1916 Peter de Spaldlng was Lord OF West
Hall Manor, Denver, Norfolk.
In 1340 John de Spalding, son OF the above
Peter. owned extensive tracts OF land in
Denver and In Higley-Downham, Fordham.
Then again in 1913 Sir Pierce or Peter
Spalding surrendered Berwick Castle on the
Tweed to Sir Thomas Randall, Earl Of Muir
ray, In return for lands In Scotland; some
called this Sir Pierce traitor, but there are
always two sides to such tale. 1t is from
this Spalding that the Spalding family Of
Georgia and South Carolina are descended.
In the 10th century David Spalding was a
famous man In Dundee; he Is, l think anoth-
er progenitor OF the family In America, but
whether the direct progenitor Of our Edward
who came over to Braintree in 1880 or there
abouts, / cannot tell.
Brockdish parish church In Norfolk con-
tains the tombs and burial places OF many
Of our race.
Again, Samuel Spalding was town clerk Of
hall.
So, too, we hear of an earlier Thomas, a
priort IN the reign Of Henry VII.
And additionally, to complete the English
list, we nave Spalding who wrote rather
too Tory history of Scotland in the XVII
century, another who wrote excellent books
on Italy. and afhird who wrote the we'll
known History Of English Literature"
classic In its way.
In Italy we come across Spaldinis, who are
evidently of the same family, perhaps emil
grants from the North OF Europe. and others
Of the same name in Spain. As to the Ital-
can can be no a question: % for as GarIbsld % Is st pro,
nounced with both ''a"s flat. and the 'ap'
spelled without the "a" so Spaldini Is pro-
nounced with the "a" fiat. and spelled with
out the "u."
to Spaldings of Lyons. in France, and the
name was there spelled as we wish 1t, cor
rectly.
Further still. the German Spaldings are
well known noted theologiaD ?, latinists and
merchants. 1t Is not long since that read
moderately well written German novel en-
titled "Spalding Brothers" and in the hand
some city Of Hamburg, one Of the finest
streets is called Spalding street.
Of the spelling of the German name, too,
there can be no doubt, because Spalding in
German can only be spelled and pronounced
correctly In one way, and that Is by declln-
Ing TO recognize the interpolated "u," which
would make of Spaiding with the broad "a"
as In Iather) the name nowhere extant OF
Spowlding with the sound of "ow" in howl.
After all, the main stay of the name as
spelled in the good old English fashion Is the
fine old town Of SpaldiDg in Lincolnshire.
Now.way back in Ethelberd' s time (he reig1ed
from 7l6 till 757. when he was murdereD
there was monastery, the grounds Of which
extended on the easterly side as far as the
walls OF the hamlet or village of Spalding,"
which is said to have been originally settled
In the sixth century by people Of that name
from Flanders. In 1861, we find the monas-
terry still existing, but so harassed by the
monks Of neighboring religious house that
our monks were forced to retire, and their
abode was given over to the Abbey Of An
to the latter monastery. The Spalding mon
astery, which went by the name OF the Alb
hey of Crowland, was one Of the thirteen
largest establishments suppressed In the
times Of Henry VIII. and Edward vi, and
was then enjoying an annual income Of
nearly $1,000. a large sum for those days.
Well, this monastery, with its documents,
shows that the town OF Spalding maintained
a constant existence from at least 730 or
thereabouts to Henry Will, whilst in our
days it still flourishes; it has not grown very
enormously; numbers about 5000 or so peo-
pie: Is well drained by means OF steam
pumps. though lying well down in fenny
country; a neat, clean looking place; has
that, cheap water rates; has celebrated
antiquarian society, well known as the
Spalding Society, to which Sir Isaac Newton
was not ashamed TO belong. The lands all
around are good for grazing, and the town is
a great wool centre; the great market days
are well attended. The town is asserted by
some to owe its names to the once renowned |
Spa, or curative chalybeate spring In the |
market place. The ancient church Of st. |
Mary and st. Nicholas has still many fine |
bits of architecture, some dating back 600 |
years, whilst the north porch is very beauti- |
full Schools with ancient foundations are |
plenty, and round about the place you can |
see Roman remains and the ruins OF Crow.
land Abbey, which once reached ITO the |
wall of Spalding," to quote the ancient doc
uments.
There are also in England Spaldington,
Spaldewick, and Spaldford or Spalding-
settled by people from the old Spaldng, or
else by people with the same name that we
own.
Why go any farther We have seen from
the analogy of sound in the spelling OF al
most every proper name in the Ancient and
Modern world. that those who insert the "u"
into the good old name that belongs to us,
have not foot to stand on; that from anal
0gy with the ancient and modern use OF the
syllable al throughout the English tongue;
they are still worse off, and that finally all
Of the ancestors of the family In foreign
lands where the family name originated, |
who COULD spell, never spelled their name |
In any other way, nor did any. writer OF an |
cient documents ever think of spelling this |
name in any other way than SPALDlNG. |
But what are veto do with the Spaldinss |
who WILL have the ''u"? We do not wish to |
try to force people to change Their names |
perhaps endeared to them by old associa- |
tioDs. If people will insist upon spelling |
their names incorrectly, not only analogi- |
cally, but historically and etymologically, |
we cannot help that. All tnat we can do Is
to demonstrate gently. We can only show
them the right road. and silently suggest
that they shall follow it; it is useless to try
force. We can perhaps try to teach them
that the good old family name is WORTHY
OF being spelled properly, and as it was al
ways spelled before our ancestors left Eu-
rope. We can do perhaps still better by OPP
posing the useless ''u' in old-fashioned
broadsides like the present paper, and main.
tanning that we are right no matter who be
wrong; let the latter present their arguments
in a similar fashion.
But whatever the issue Of all our present |
or future efforts. yet when phonetic spelling |
comes, as is sure to be the case, we who |
have cluDg to the ancient spelling will be |
gratitied in knowing that we at least shall be |
in good company, no matter what becomes |
of the rest of the race. For our name can
not then be spelled except in one way, no
matter how much we may try, for Spaldlpg
with the "a" broad or fat. will always pe
Spalding without the "u." The "aui VIII