The National tribune., 1906-05-17

II
The donation ,Sy Andrew Carnegie OF
an ample f1ndr for q campaign for
spelling reformnand the enlistment In
the work Of great number Of leading
educators bSinES this question once
more prominently before the people.
There has always been a widespread de
mand for 4simplification of our bar
barous. unphilosophical and time-was:-
ing photographic but none of the many
efforts that havei been made during tho
past century Mas been particularly
fruitful of success. The Americans have
gone far ahaad1tof the English in the
elimination OF Useless letters, but the
principal success has been in elminat-
ing the unnecessary u" in such words
as honor. favor; dropping one "g' from
wagon. and so on. There Is a world OF
Improvement yet to be made and 1t
should be begun as early as possible.
1t is estimated that it costs at least one
year of every chld's life to learn our
system of spelling. and no man or wo-
man ever really learns to spell the Eng
| lish language. He or she may be able to
spell a few thousand words in common
use, but the moment they get beyond
| that they are lost The campaign for
simplified and rational spelling has been
begun by the Simplifed Spelling Board
sending out a list OF 900 words from
which unnecessary letters can be
| dropped to advantage. Wherever this
| list goes it is accompanied by a postal
card which 1T is hoped the receiver will
! sign and send back. This card reads:
Il will use in my cor. dependence, as
| far as may be pra ctica BILE, the simpler
| spelling recommended by the Simpiifed
Spelling Board in its circular of March
81, 1906"
The circular says:
Some of those who would like to see
our spelling made simpler fear that this
Will obscure the derivation Of words:
but all etymOlogists deny the statement
and repudiate the argument Etymology
| is history, and is new secure in innum-
| cradle books. Some object to any
change, not realizing that change
| much Of it in the nature Of simplifica-
tiOn-has been almost continuous in the
history Of English spelling. We do not
print Shakpere's or Bacon's words as
they were written; and surely no great
catastrophe to English literature or to
the literary charac er Of the language
will happen if our successors find-as
they certainly villas great or greater
differences between their spelling and
that OF the present day.
I'm familiar GORE spondence many
simp'ified forms are now used which
shock no ones nerves, and in the most
emotional poetry such forms as d opt.
slept, pIest (Tennyson) are printed
without attracting attention. 1t is prob
abe that if all English words were
ri NJ cd tn f1p0 civ
which they will unquestionably bear a
hundred years, hence. ii would take q
very little while for US all TO become
accustomed to, them"
Among the forms recomn ended are
tho. altho. tfra,, turnout. ak. kist for
kisseb. slept. stopf. wo. ticro. clipt
fxt. nipt. prept. pur {fr purr), and
husht. Words In which t is substitut-
ed for ed FORM the greater part of the
vanguard. Taken as who'e, the
changes are not violent. end any one
who fears to have his e.ym clogicaI SEN
sibi.ities shocked will met an agree
able surprise, Classical authorities are
cited to show that many OF the so-called
new forms are not really new. but were
gradually changed by the adoption Of
hC1L IL -hiitDil hIotC
contest" anaif $hakspere Bunyan and
Burns wrote .a1Seras,," why. asks the
Simplied Spelling Beard. in effect,
should present day citizens raise the
cry that history and etym clo-y are be-
ing outraged?
Below are given some OF the words
sent out by tho Simpl fed Spelling
Spelling Board. Many are omitted, be-
cause it requires only one or two of a
certain class to indicate the general
plan. The forms in the first column
are to be used instead Of those in the
second:
abridgment infringement
accOuter accOutre
accurSt accurSed
addreSt addressed
ADJ adZe
anesthet.; aEaesthetic
antipyrin antipyrine
apprize apprise
arbOr arbour
artiZan artisan
assiZe assise
bark barque
braZen braSen
bun bum
caliber caiibre
carest caressed
catalog catalogue
center centre
clapt clapped