The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-11-01

~~.~H.
raphy is used so little in private life,
that even authors and scientists are so
unfamiliar with it's proper usage that
they need to have their work corrected
by experts, then it is high time to give
up the new way and return to the old.
Spanish and Italian, more than any
other language, have preserved their
Latin origin, and pronounce most all
their words as they are spelled.
French, on the other hand, though also
predominently derived from the Latin,
not only swallows one. but sometimes
two and three letters in the pronuncla-
tion of single word. And yet,
French is the most flexible and, in
point of sound, the most beautiful of
all languages; at least to the ear of all
but Spaniards and Italians, who claim
superiority Of sound for their language;
but they sound too cultural to suit the
taste of Engllshmen and Germans.
Be that as it may, the French people
are jealousy anxious to preserve their
language in it's present form.
Conditions are vastly different with
the English language. After the Con-
quest, the long line of Norman kings
and their numerous imported parti-
sans, used all their efforts in forcing
the French language on the English
people. They were but partially sue
cessful. The old Saxon, an idiom of
the Germanic, forms to this day the
structure of the English language;
Notwithstanding the fact that almost
all the latest additions to the
English vocabulary are of French, and
therefore, originally of Latin origin.
Less than a century ago, the English
vocabulary was smaller in number
than that of any other nation. But
during the last fifty years, the English
speaking world has coined so many
new words, and has adopted thousands
of other words from foreign languages,
|, principally from the French, that our
dictionary is now the second largest
vocabulary in the world; but of this
large vocabulary far less than one-fifth
is ever used in conversational inter-
course Next to French, English has
| the largest number of words which
contain letters the sound of which is
not perceptible in speech. For all that
| English always was, and now is, the
, language best adapted for expressions
: in the possibly smallest amount OF
words, and is, therefore, excellently
t adapted to the needs of time-saving
], commercially aggressive people. That
\ is where English stood till up to few
8 months ago.
J. But now comes our irrepressible
Q friend and would-be world adjuster
t Andrew Carnegie. No captain of in
d dustry has ever proved harder, more
t uncompromising and more cruel task
i master to his workingmen, the mer
q who helped him to accumulate hi
o great riches, than this ScOtchman
q But after this man had retired from
f business, after he had bought one o.
y the finest castles in Scotland and ha(
l. built for his private use the largest
it residential palace on palatial Fifti
j. Avenue in New York, and after h
n had munificently provided for his onl!
It child, daughter, this man found tina
10 he had still much more money lef
r than he could possibly spend i'll his oil
J. age. Having made himself famous b.
d his industrial enterprise, and by tn
wealth he had gained thereby, this mai
It proceeded to gain further fame by Law
II ishly distributing his surplus capita
r for more or less benevolent, but rathe
Is eccentric enterprises. Nobody will
If find fault with Mr.. Carnegie for thai
1T 1t is commendable if he spends hi
ID money for what he considers philan
I'd thropy. A superfuity of libraries, tn
g peace palace at The Hague, and hi
ut chimerical articles on universal peac,
Id may not be appreciated by those wh
III do not consider Carnegie genius out
in side of making money as an ironmaste
ne Neither does anyone object if Nd
d. Carnegie thinks that he can improv
to the English language by spelling th
~ words phoneticaIly. But when thi
If idea of his is taken hold of by the pre-
g. ident, who forthwith dictates to th