The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-26

EIIERS have been flowing in
from teachers in the public
schools all over the State con-
& graduating The Call on the re-
cent establishment of a de-
partment of education and
promising aid and encouragement in
the work. Already number of inter
eSting articles on special features of
education or pertaining to the schools
IN general have been received.
Many of these letters contain sug-
gestive hints as to the manner of con-
Quoting such a department, but there
IS a wide difference of opinion ex-
pressed in them. One writer says:
The articles should be written by
specialists in the field of education
In the very next letter prominent
educator of San Jose states his views
to the contrary: Make it a point to
publish articles not merely from
teachers and superintendent but from
those outside the profession. We
teachers should know what others
think of US and of our work-business
men, parents, trustees, and-yes, even
pupils
From Salinas comes a letter with
the words Amended photography
stamped across the top of each page.
The writer begins with the prOsaic adj
dress, Dear Sir'-but here we run
. across the first snag Of inconsistency,
for if he spells phOnetically in one in
stance, why not in all? According to
this rule the words should read Deer
Sur"
But he goes bravely on and plunges
at once into an exposition of the prin-
ciples of his new-fashioned spelling:
From my orthografy you will perseiv
that am a spelling reform enthuZiast-
crank, if you prefer so to call me. In
. former days we had opozishun among
the educated. sum claiming that the ex-
:erCize ov lerning to spell wOZ an excellent
mental drll; utherz, that we would lOoz
much ov our preZent valuabl literature;
and still utherz, that we would looz the
etimology Ov our wOrdZ.
But in regard to this Professor A H.
Layce OF Oxford University. author of
'Comparativ FilolOgy,' says: Ignorans IL
the cauZ ov so rash a statement. The
stems ov etimology dealz with sounds,
not with leterZ, and no true etimology
IL posibl when we do not no the exact
way in which woTdz ar pronounst. The
hole stems ov comparativ filology liz basic
on the assumpshun that the anshent
Hinduz, Greeks, RomanZ and Goths spelt
prity nearly az thay pronounst.
AT wun time a cirtain editor grew
eloquent in hiz denunsiashun ov the
'vandaIz' hoo would ruthlesly lay handz
on our 'nobl English, and he conclud-
ed thus: The spelling that IL good enuf
for Shakespear and Milton il good enuf
for us'-seemingly oblivious ov the fact
that he coud hardly read the real spell
ing of Shakespear and Milton without a
glossary
The writer goes on to mention a
which have been formed to further the
cause of phonetic spelling, and gives a
list of prominent scholars all over the
world who are interested therein.
Among the latter he names such men
as Professor Max Muller, W. w. Skeat,
Whitney of Yale University. Henry
Sweet, Andrew D. White. Matthews,
HowelIs, Eggleston, President Harper
of Chicago University and Benjamin E.
Smith of the "Sentury Dicshunary
surely an imposing array of names.
From Santa Clara County comes the
report that about sixty teachers in and
about San Jose have awaited them
. selves Of the privileges offered by the
teachers annuity and retirement fund
:of that county. The committee in
charge is: F. P. Russell, City Super
-intendent, chairman; George S. Wells,
principal of the Washington Grammar
school; Cornelia NJ. Farley of the San
Jose High school, and Helen Strange
of Gilroy.
Edwin Markham, principal of the
Tompkins school in Oakland, who has
been for many years a contributor to a
number of the literary magazines in
the country, is at present engaged on {
book Of verse which will be issued by
an Eastern publisher some time dur
ing the latter part of next year. This
will be followed by a volume Of poems
on labor subjects.
The following extract is from an able
address entitled How to Teach Morals
and Manners" which was delivered be-
fore a recent teachers institute by