The Mena weekly star., 1906-09-27
TWAIN 0N N[N SPELLING
Veteran Humorist Appeals to Asso- ciated Press to Adopt SIm-
 plified Form.
HIGH COMPLIMENTS TO NEWSPAPERS

MT. Clemens Made Characteristic Ad-
 dress to Members of the Association at
 Banquet in New York-Asked That
 the New Spelling he Given Three
 Months Trial.
 New York, Sept. 21.--The annual meeting of members of the Associated Press was held in this city Wednes- day Important matters in connection with the service were disposed of.
 Wednesday night the members, who included publishers, editors and other representatives of papers taking the Associated Press met with several guests at dinner at the Waldorf Astor- la
 Melville D. Stone, general monoger of the Associated Press, presided, and with him at the guests table were Samuel l.. Clemens, who discussed reform spelling; General Horace Porter, former ambassador to France. who responded to the toast 'yOur Guests; Henry A. Shute, author, who talked of Critics" and Prof. George E. Vinvent of the University of Chi cago who spoke on the subject Pure ly Academic"
 MT. Clemens spoke in characteristic vein. H said in part:
 q am here to make an appeal to the nations in behalf of the simpified spelling. have come here because they can not all be reached except through you. There are only two for ces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe-only two-the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here I may seem to be flattering the sun but I do not mean it so, I am meaning only to be just and fair all around You speak with million voices: no one can reach so many races, so many hearts and in- tellects as you, except Rudyard Kip ling, and he can not do it without your help. If the Associated Press will ac- cept and use our simplified forms and thus spread them to the ends of the earth, covering the whole spacious planet with them as with a garden Of flowers our difficulties are at an eno.
 Every day of the 365 the only pages of the worlds countless news beings and angels and devils that Car. read, are those papers that are built out of Associated Press dispatches And so beg you. beseech you-oh, implore you-to spell them in our simplified forms. Do this daily, con- stantly, persistently, for three months -only three months--it is all 1 ask. The infallible result. victory, victory, all down the line.
 For by that time all eyes here and above and below will have become adjusted to the change and in love with 1t, and the present clumsy and ragged forms will be grotesque to the eye and revolting to the soul. And we shall be rid of phthisis, phthisic and pneumonia and pneumatics and diphtheria and pteradactyl and all those other insane words which no man addicted to the simple Christian life can try to spell and not lose some of the bloom of his piety in the de- moralizing attempt Do not doubt 1t. We are chameleons and our partiali- ties and prejudices change places with an easy and blessed facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it We do not regret our old yellow fangs and snags and tush. es after we have worn nice fresh uni form store teeth awhile.
 "Simplified spelling can convey any fact you need to convey; and it can pour out emotions like sewer. l beg you, beseech you, to adopt our spelling and print all your dispatches in it."
 In conclusion Mark Twain said:
 Now you see before you the wreck and ruin of what was once a young person like yourself. I am exhausted by the heat of the day, must take what is left of this wreck and ruin out of your presence and carry 1t to my home and spread it out there and sleep the sleep of the righteous. There is nothing much left of me but my age and my righteousness, but leave with you my love and my bless ing. and may you always keep your youth"