, 1904-01-27
SPELLING.
Brooklyn Eagle.

Brooklyn Eagle.
In the case of a woman school teacher
who charges libel against the principal
who made reports alleging her ineffi-
cheney and the superintendent who
marked her down, a justice of the
Supreme Court has prohibited the
defense from introducing the written
reports on class work made by the
teacher herself, to show how weak she
was in the matter of spelling. The
justice is said to have remarked in eX-
PLANTATION that many great men have
been poor spoilers" The decision is,
for its lnsouciance or its charity, worthy
either of Sir Charles Grandson or of
old Colonel Newcomb. 1t is the
ultimate of judicial %gallantry. Besides,
it is true. Washington was a poor
speller and at Yorktown he gave to
Corn wallis more than one bad spell.
But, while it is thus true that many
great men have been poor spoilers, it is
also the case that other great men have
been unable to read and write: Adam,
Tecumseh, Powhatan, Spartacus and
others. But they were not school
teachers, though school teachers have
learned-and taught-many a lesson
from them.
Even the great Napoleon, it may be
said, was grossly defective in ortho-
graphy, and chirography, and syntax.
In answer to a critic he said: II pay
clerks to furnish writing and spelling
and grammar. 1t is enough for me to
furnish ideas.n That is a position that
might be taken by a School Superin-
tendent, but hardly by a class teacher
under salary, to-day. 1t was Carlyle
who said, when told that sentences in
"Sartor Resartus' could not be parsed:
1.-The limitations of English grammar
are intended for persons of mediocre
intelligence" But a plain ordinary
school teacher is not a Thomas Carlyle,
nor a William H. Maxwell, nor a
Napoleon BOnaparte, nor a Josh Bill
lings, nor an ARENAS Ward.
The Eagle is a little sorry 10 have it
judicially declared, even though only
Us an ubiter dicta, that good or bad
spelling is a matter oil indifference in a
public school teacher. Like teacher,
like child is a safe proposition, and
year by year the Eagle has use for some
GRADUATES of the Brooklyn schools. 1t,
therefor, has prejudices in favor of
teachers who can spell, and a system
that will make the boys and girls learn
SOllClDiJS vi tLC VII llHOcC
prejudices are unreasonable or I'M
seasonahle, but they are shared by a
vast ma .Arity of the old school men to
whom the boys and girls will have to
apply for jobs, when they go out into
the world. 1t is, of course, possible
that the plaintiff teacher III this case is
a very good speller, and that the allega-
ton to the contrary is q lure of the
enemy. We, however, are only refer
ring to the judge now.
Even the young men and young
women who don't want jobs at all
ought TO know how to spell. One of
these days some genius will make a hit
by reviving in society, say on the
Heights, the old country spelling bee.
1t would be lots of fun from the start,
and a real education before it had run
its course. Some venerable justices of
the Supreme Court might be spelled
down. Some clergy men-but the Eagle
doesn't propose to make public the
secrets of its copy desk and proof room
here.
"Many great men have been poor
spellers.n One of them was Joshua
Bates of Bordentown, N. J. He was
made postmaster by Jackson. For
years he put out no sign. Then the
people objected. So he drove a post in
the ground and across it nailed Il board
OH which was lettered the word 'Offis.n
Two years afterward public opinion de-
manded ''more." So he nailed above
"Otfis" a board with the word "Poasto
lettered on it. Three years after-and
now VanBuren had come in-the people
told him that the words were ''spelt
wrong" Then Mr.. Bates uttered words
which Bordentown has not forgotten:
"If 'o-f-f-i-s' doesn't spell offs and il
'p-o-a-s-t' doesn't spell 'poast,' I'd like
to know what in thunder they do spell.
It's an ignorant nan hal can't spell
words more'n one way" Respectfully
referred to Judge Marean and Superin-
tendent Maxwell.