The Minneapolis journal., 1902-07-11

LILIES as apt 10 aLLaln pOS1L1On ana power
as the non-collegian. Whatever contrib
dividuality makes the man better citi-
zen and more useful member of So
,ciety.' Uong applause.) <.
!. The Spelling Reform. ~ :.
stThe simplthcation Of English Spelling
q Present Duty was presented by Charles
Payson Gurley Scott, the, chronological
editor Of the Century Dictionary. He
took his text from the Cover<ssle transla-
tion Of. the English Bible from the sixth
chapter OF Ecclesiastics. tbs eleventh
verse, "a vain thing is 1t to cast out
many words, but, what has. man else" "
Laughter). The speaker deplored that
he had but 5000, words in which to speak
as an "Hxploder of Words" A general
INTRODUCTION including some personal
facts, led up. to what the speaker wanted
to say, namely, that what he had to say
was not his own opinion, but that Of many
qualified authorities. Spelling was i'm
portant because of it's endless iteration.
The .simpltfcation Of English spelling was
the present duty Of the teachers. ttIt Is
your duty said Mr. Scott, 'tyou the
you the members of the N. e. A. This is
bold but true Statement, for the reason
that you are rational beings; perhaps
this isSa bold statement, Qaughter). AS
rational beings you must also accept the
grave responsibilities and duties of your
calling. English spelling is about as ir-
rational as anything can be. For in
stance. "rhyme," spelled by your pupils
'rime' is corrected. Why do. you correct
the spelling Of i-l-a-n-d to sislandg So
sometimes did Professor Marsh and Pro-
fessor Whitney. So sometimes do I.
Reason demands truth and simplicity in
the teaching Of the young from you.
Every possible objection has been raised
and met, and the arguments are over
Whelming.' l.,--- ~ E-.sr 4 ss f.
There had been in the minds Of many
a confusion of spelling with literature.
This was not right. Spelling was bat a
method, a tool, and it was the duty Of
teachers to mend It, It was not etymol-
ogy. In many instances it was foe, and
phonetic spelling would not harm etymol-
ogy. Simplifed spelling was in the direc-
tion Of phonetics, but no philologist ad-
vocated phonetic spelling. It was not to
be a large substitution. Phonetic SPELL
ing was scientific simply and was. not for
the use Of the public. Scholars around
the world used the Roman alphabet. This
was the best basis for phonetic re-
form. The principles were simply, first,
the yowels should have their usual Ro-
man pronunciation; second, the conso-
nants, with the exception OF CO. and IS, -
SHOulu O6 lSSu lOI LuGiE SlukPlG SOuuUEsy
'tc'' being used for ssk. AS rational be-
ings teachers should not pronounce the
vowels as they are now pronounced here.
1t was irrational and improper.
ParaIyzing to Reason.
The ordinary teaching Of the child in
spelling was at first simply paralyztng
to reason, and when the child tried to
use reason and analogy, he was corrected
and kept in" IN 1880 occurred the gem
eral adoption Of the vaTiation OF .i'' and
w. and it would be hard to find any
books printed later than 1886 when this
regulation was not observed. It would
be difficult now to find one so bold as to
adopt and carry out such a change. In
1890 the superfuous long ''s'' was dropped
from use The change was effected by
John Bell, a printer and publisher. He
ordered his compo ositors to drop the long
t's'' and 1T was done, and has been so
written So ever since. Noah Webster
was another innovator who advocated a
simpler style OF spelling. 4.
In America, said the speaker, we
have decided wherever possible to adopt
the simpler spelling. It is so with all
photographers and I can say ofncially
that the publishers OF Worcester's I'm
abridged Dictionary do not intend 20 put