Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-16
LOST ART OF SPELLING.
Little Time Left for Teaching It in the
Maze of Fads.

/ From the New orleans Picayune
In this commercial age when the ancient
| classic languages are being eliminated from
/ the courses of study in colleges and uni
| versities, and poetry is being banished from
| place among the fine arts of which it
was once the head and soul, and every en-
ersy and faculty of the human being are
being devoted to the acquisition of material
wealth. it is not strange that the art OF
spelling correctly is being shamefully neg
lected in the schools.
1t is a fact that great numbers, if not the
greatest numbers, of graduates that are
sent out of the highest educational 1nsti-
tutions in the country are grossly deficient
| in ability to spell ordinary words IN the
| everyday use of our language.
The apparent reason for this is that cor
| rect spelling is not necessary to financial
and industrial business success. A man can
| become millionaire and be utterly Hitter
! ate but to know how to read and write 10
| very important to him, but he need not by
| any means be a correct Speller- He can
| express himself intelligibly on ordinary sub
| ieCtS with very poor knowledge or use OF
! photography.
| The real reason, however, for such gen.
! eral effectiveness in spelling is that so lit
| tie attention is paid to this once essential
art in the lower schools. In early times
| Walkers Dictionary was the highest au-
| thority in photography, and in the primary
! and grammar schools of that day the chill
| dren stood up in rows and spelled aloud in
| composition the successful spoilers going
| up head or at least taking position above
! all whom they had defeated
| After that came a period when Noah
| Webster became the standard in the United
| States, and his ancient blue-back book of
| the most used words had to be fixed in the
| minds of the children The pupils who had
| got the beginnings of an education in such
schools under such discipline all became
| good spoilers, and if any of them went to
| the colleges. such as they were in those
| days. they became not only spoilers, but
| etymologists and syntaxers also. or in a
! word they were grammarians according to
! old Lindley Murray
Today in the primary and grammar
i schools se-many newfangled subjects are
! taught that the children have no time for
| spelling, and that is one reason why there
! is so little good reading except by profess
| SIGNALS. Persons who spell poorly skim
! over what they read without giving to each
| letter in each word it's proper value. and
| they do not understand what Is so read
| with sufficient clearness or accuracy to be
| able to recite 1t intellgibly aloud. To be
| able to read well Is a fine accomplishment.
/ and is absolutely necessary If one would be
| an orator or effective public speaker.
1t is greatly to be regretted that so few
| university graduates are able to spell cor
| rectly or to read properly. but unless they
| are proposing to become actors or orators
| probably they will not feel the need of such
| accomplishments. What is wanted in edu-
| cation is knowledge that can be sold for
! cash. Every other sort Is of comparatively
| little use in the estimation of the official
| educators.