The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-16
SPELLING.

Men go on learning TO spell. The
English language is not the worst
among civilized languages, but 1t has
hard words made harder by a senseless
photography. The phonetic method Of
spelling has the better of the argument
it is the science Of making the charac-
ter or letter represent the sound. Pro-
nounce the word and you have In fact
spelt it. Spelling is but characterizinG
vocal sounds A dozen reasons at once
may be offered against the phonetic
spelling none of which are very serious
but they ara sufficient. Think of the
way In which our language would be
married II the silent letters were drop
ped and phthisic would lose its terror
If reduced to ''tizik" Then the labor
OF recognizing our photography.
It won't do. We must go on learning
to spell or be written among the ignor-
ant. The fact is. we will learn TO spell
or not as our faculty of memory is good
or bad The man who can't remember
while he walks down town his wife's
grocer order will not be good spelier.
The writer once knew a man Of consid-
cradle native ability who said: 81 know
the difference between the sun in the
heavens and the son of man, but l can
Tot for the life Of me say which is spelt
with an ''o'' and which with a ''u." He
was not ashamed TO admit 1t. What
constitutes q good speller? One who
has the faculty Of recalling the word
the mental picture Of It. IT is in the
main a matter Of memory. There are
a fey rules. a mite of science and
heap Of memory. If you doubt this,
Just afempt To reason out how TO spell
a word about which you have the least
doubt.
A great many people put too much
stress upon spelling, The idea back of
the word is, by all odds, the matter of
first importance. Language Is the out
growth of an artificial method for the
representation of ideas. And the effort
at exactness, refinement of definition.
tends as often TO obscurity and mysti-
cism as 10 clearneSs. Spelling Is an ac-
complishment which we may feel some
pride in If we are fortunate enough to
he good spoilers. But M man should
worry because he may spell poorly,
Franklin praised good spelling with
misspelt words, The ideas Of Franklin
were worth a good deal more than tho
manner Of his spelling. Learn TO spell.
Give the proper time 20 this But don't
sacrifice time. Some people spend one
fourth of their time or more at the die
tionary. This Is an outrage upon your
time. Give us your ideas. If your
spelling is bad, the man who knows how
will correct your photography, and the
man who doesn't know how Will not
care one way or the other,
There is deal of time wasted In try
ing TO learn 10 spell. Time and again
the dictionary is consulted for the same
word: the task has not been learned.
Spelling is the dressing In which ideas
are clothed. Spelling is the shadow. the
thought the substance. BE careful how
You choose the shadow and neglect the
substance. Some men will learn to
spell. What they read leaves a word
impression upon their minds. 1t is easy.
Could not be otherwise. Others can
not learn to SPELL Remember there are
worse things than forgetting when and
where to place useless silent letters In
word formation; and better mental ac-
complishments than correct spelling.