The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1916-05-18
uhNEC CESsARY WORDS
TANNED Down the Throats Of Chill.
dren From Spelling Books

ltacHcrS, lawyers, manufacturers, mel
chants and railroaders were all repre-
sented by those letters.
: And how many different words d
you suppose are required TO carry o.
Z Americas pulsating affairs
, Just 542 constitute seven-eighths o
all the words used by any of thes,
people at any time. We use those 81.
over and over again, and only once
in eight times do we go outside tina
: small list for different one
But as a shoolboy studied spell
ing book that contained many thou
sand words OF course, haven't useC
a fifth of them since, although writing
has been my business.
stopped on my way downtown yes.
terday morning and bought new
spelling book. 1t is the kind used by
boys and girls of about twelve years,
And here is the sort of pompous mon
strosity thrown at your little daugh-
ter's head: "Deciduous," "cognizance,
eclectic" and "hermetical"
There isn't more clever woman in
America than Miss Agnes 'Repplier,
and she uses her pen constantly,
When did she ever write "deciduous ~
Levi l.. Rue manages to be Presi-
dent of Pennsylvania greatest bank
How often does "termagant," "mole-
cule," "consorious" or "soporifc" be-
fuddle his stenographer and disgust
his correspondent? Never!
He didn't become great banker by
using long, odd or unnecessary words.
DR.. Edgar Fahs Smith is head Of
Pennsylvania largest educational in
stitution. When did the provost find
it necessary to employ "euphony,"
"diapason" or "ossified," words thrust
down the rebelling throat of your son
in l1nickerbockers
From all the 900 pulpits in Phila-
delphia on Sunday what kind of words
flowed? Not "pleonism," nor "synthe-
SIS" nor "idomatic," nor "supercili-
ous," that | warrant you.
have talked with quite a number Of
railroad presidents, and read scores of
things they had written. I'm blessed
if / ever yet knew Messrs. Rea, Mil
lard, Voorhees,, Thomas, Baer, Cassatt,
McCrea or Stotesbury to employ "epi-
zootic" or "satyr" or "nonpareil" or
"cuirass."
Editors and publishers might be
supposed to use a larger variety Of
words than any other business or pro-
fessional men. | happen TO have
known personally nearly all the lead
ing editors and publishers in this city
during the last twenty years.
"Oxalic" never in my presence
crossed a single editorial lip. "Con-
was stranger to every pub
Usher. "Choleric" was rank un-
known.
But there stand those abominable
stumbling blocks Of childhood in that
new spelling book along with
phthisic, "vis-a-vis," "rhomboid" and
scores of other words which even the
of forty hasn't used
,wice in his life.
Soon after ! bought that spelling
book | met DR.. Thomas S. March, who ,
holds an important place in the State
6oard of Education.
"What are all these big words good
or ." inquired [
MOSTLY good for nothing" was his ;
lujck reply. had expected that from
he talented son Of one Of the foremost
English scholars of all time. t
"Old Dad" March didn't use four ,
,yllables when two served a better {
purpose. DR.. Thomas March said yes {
erday that school men are now de- /
roting much thought to this spelling
,ook problem. More power to their
,rains in such thinking.
Prof. Louis W. Repeer of the Penn /
ylvania State College has some adj {
nirable ideas along this line Of useless |
Here is his sensible way G
f putting the case in a letter which {
received from him: b
"When do we use spelling? Only Z
ghen we write. What words do we
se in our letters? Pedagogues never
oncern themselves TO discover. They :
et up spelling books containing /
5000 words, most Of which no one /.
yould ever use r.
In the first 300 years Of our coun- =
ry's history, by far the greatest book s
'ritten was Franklin's Autobiography !
famous for the great number Of 4
imple words. Id
A book written IN the last half cen L
lry that earned more money than any 2
ther up to that time was Grants Z
lemoirs. Words Of one syllable fll "
lost every page.
Tho FrarJrlinE and Grants never Z