Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-24
IN THE SCHOOLROom.
what IS Being Done in Maine for the
Advancement of Education,

,iiiiord III. Preston assistant princj
pal at Little Blue school. Pennington
mas resigned on account of i'll health
MS successor is Jerome McAIurphey. a
graduate of the University of Yves;
virginia who has taken a post-gradr-
ave course at the University OF
Chicago.
blanchard +. Hicks of Rockland. has
oeeh appointed principal of the Weeks
street Grammar school, Bath, to take
the place made vacant by Miss Ben
ner promotion to the High school.
MI Hicks is a graduate of the Rock
land High school, 80. and of Tufts Col
iege, class of "a. He has been teach
ing the present year in Chelsea and
Woburn. For four years he was
principal of the grammar school nj
West Yarmouth. Mass.
The Art of Spelling.
When was the last spelling-booli
published"' asks the Boston Tran
script In an editorial plea for spelling.
our BOSTON contemporary says it
"ouic seem that our youth have out
grown the nse of that once important
teAlpook 1t would seem oftentimes,
from thelr ignorance of the rules of
spelling and their arrangement of the
letters IN words. that they 1isdained
Inc practice of good photography. 1t
IS all very We'll to talk about some peo-
PIE being natural spoilers and some be-
ING poor spoilers. There are faults of
ear. which are hard to correct: but
eyes can be trained to correct those
faults. and decent spelling under all
circumstances. at least from every
graduate of the grammar grade in our
schools, should be demanded The
Transcript says:
1T is a fact of observation. explain
it how YOU will, that pupils who have
taken prizes for scholarship in gram
mar schools of good standing cannot
write letter free of plumbers in
spelling; another fact that pupils in
High schools. remarkably Well read
lor their years, are guilty of gross
error in spelling: still another. that
pupils who have the wit and brains and
style TO write a charming letter. mis-
spell abominably; and yet another,
that boys seeking entrances to col
leges OF first rank, able to pass ex-
amlnatlons in mathematics aud
science. spell after the fashion of
Witch As to the common rules OF
photography, the ignorance that there
are any worth trying to understand
and apply is amazing. Is it not mis-
take to allow a child to reach his later
teens unable to distinguish by any sure
method between such words as strip
ping and stripping? Often he seems to
know what the final e's duty is in the
word stripe; but when that is dis
rensed with in applying the sutfix. he
has no guide for differentiation
doubling the final consonant, in
monosyllables, before sufifx begin
ming with a vowel is "A new idea TO
him. Why should he know the one
differentiation and not the other, pray?
Then there are tricks for the memory,
too. Those lie words are troublesome
always: take conceive, for instance;
the importance of the e is shown by
the absence of in conception. which
is spelled as it sounds-then let the
stand first. In believe, the case Is
otherwise: Deception is not construct
able and the is proved the more inn
portant.'
The natural conclusion is that there
lis something wrong somewhere. Either
the Importance of decent spelling has
not been impressed upon pupils, or
they have been allowed to follow care
less ways. or they have not been
trained or drilled at all. Teachers
cannot do everything. and the many
requirements of their position in the
modern schoolroom make it inpossi-
BILE for them to make these laDses into
carelesSness in the matter of poor
spelling personal matter with every
hoy and girl within their jurisdiction.
But somebody should see to it, and the
parents should be quite as much inter-
ested and concerned as the teachers.
| If parents demand good practice az
we'll as good percentages. the schools
can but rise to the occasion. AS a
matter of fact. the schools are help
Hess TO great extent for the reason
that parents do not look more closely
Into the matter. AT all events we can
start out with the idea that children