The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-09-05

tur6 VIII rarely take the trouble 10
adopt the simpler spelling; they have
wasted time N acquiring mastery OF
our present orthography an1 they are
unwilling to spend any more in ac-
quainting themselves with the latest
Improvements. Even if they are in
sympathy with these Improvements,
even if they have conquered their
natural prejudice in favor Of the
spelling to which they have long been
accustomed, still they feel themselves
too old to learn new tricks They are
willing to let we'll enough alone.
This is the obstacle which confronts
all who seek to better our orthogra-
ply: and it is not easy to overcome. 1t
forces al the advocates Of improve
nent to be cautious, to go very slow
ly, to urge nothing violent or sudden,
to be as tolerant and as persuasive as
possible, and to be satisfied with
faith unaccompanied by good works
But the children have no prejudices
n favor Of spellings that ought 20 be
discarded. They prefer the simplest
possible form. They welcome the or
thograhpy that conforms to analogy
They can be soon won to the good
cause; and when they are grown up
ha
still further simplifcatIons. And
thus the good work will go on slowly,
generation after generation, until the
users of the English language at last
recover the phonetic sense, which has
been lost in consequence Of our or
thographic muddle, but which is pos
sessed by the users of every other
language.
And this brings US to the question
which stands at the head of this pa
rer. How can we get simpliled
spelling into the schools? And the
answer is easy, even if the process is
likely to be long. To get simplided
srelling into the schools we need only
educate public opinion to believe that
this is what ought to be done. When
once the public has made up. its mind
that the spelling Of English ought to
be simplifed and that the best way to
begin is with the school children,
then the teachers and the superir-
tendents and the school boards will be
only too glad to do what will be ex-
pected of them. 1t is not for US to
tell them how to do it; the successive
steps to be taken may be left safely
to the skill of the teaching body.
What is needful is to focus atten-
ton on this important subject and to
arouse lively interest in it. People
must be made to see that there is
nothing sacred about our accepted
orthography, and that the spelling Of
our language has never been fhAed
finally, but has. always been slowly
simplifying itself by the casting
out of useless letters. They must be
educated in the history Of spelling,
and the many changes that have
taken place from Chaucer to Shake
speare, from Dryden to- Johnson, and
even in the nineteenth century, must
be made familiar. They must be en-
couraged to understand that steady
movement toward simplifcation has
always been evident, and they must
be made to recognize that the time
has now come when this slow pro-
gress toward the remote goal can be
accelerated.
WheE the people at large are once
convinced that our present spelling
does harm to the children; that it
wastes the time and money. Of men
and women, and that it tends to pre-
vent the adoption Of English as the
world language of the future-when
that happy hour shall arrive, i'm
provement will follow at once, spon-
taneously and unhesitatingly. AS
Lowell once said: ."The pressure OF
public opinion is like the pressure OF
the atmosphere; you can't see tt
but it's sixteen pounds to the square
;,oL rnno tho 1eSS'
AS soon as the general public be-
lieves that our spelling. is so bad that
something ought to be done, some
thing will be done. There are
abundant signs now that the general
public is beginning to take an interest
in the subject. The very natural
prejudice against any modification of
the form Of familiar words seems to
be wearing away. People are coming