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SPELLING BY SOUND.

SYSTEM OF ORTHOGRAPHY, whereby

superfluous letters could be dispensed with, educational reformers have long sought to introduce. Of these, the following method of Spelling by Sound was published some time since by the Hon. Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune, its advantage over the strictly phonetic system being that the same alphabet is employed as that in general use, which makes it much easier to introduce. It is at the same time more agreeable to the eye. By this system the student can spell any word after learning the sounds, and the reader can readily pronounce any word when reading. The great advantages gained are less space used in writing, less time, correct pronunciation, and correct spelling.

The application of this system of spelling is shown as follows:

A Specimen of His System.

The extreme iregularities ov our orthografy hav long ben a sours ov inconvéniens and anoians. Men eminent az skolars and státsmen hav often pointed out theze absurdities ov speling. Yet the evil remanes. It encumbers our primary edûcásion and robs our yuth ov yeres ov time that shùd be dévoted tu the acquizision ov nolej. It impozes a burden upon the literary man thru life in the ûse ov súperfluus leters, and compels meny persons tu study speling from the crádle tu the grave or fale tu spel corectly. It iz a fereful barier tu foriners hu wish to lern our langwaje ; and wors than aul, it hinders thousands ov persons from lerning tu rede and rite, and thus largly augments the ranks ov ignórans and depravity.

Theze évils ar so énormus in the agrégate that we fele compeled tu endors the words ov the distinguished President ov the American Filólojical Asósiásion, Prof. F. A. March, ûzed in hiz opening adres at the last anûal méting ov the Sósíety:

"It iz no ûse tu try tu caracterize with fiting epithets the monstrous speling ov the English langwaje. The time lost by it is a larj part ov the hole skule time ov the most ov men. Count the ours which éch person wásts at skule in lerning tu rede and spel, the ours spent thru life in képing up and perfecting hiz nolej ov speling, in consulting dicshunáries -a work that never ends-the ours that we spend in ríting silent leters; and multiplying this time by the number ov persons hu speak English, and we hav a total ov milyuns ov yeres wásted by éch jenerasion. The cost ov printing the silent leters ov the English langwaje iz tu be counted by milyuns ov dolors for éch jenerasion."

"Súner or later English orthografy must be simplified and réformed." -BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

"I fele very hopeful that a begining wil be made before long in réform. ing, not indede everything but at lést sumthing in the unhistorical, unsistematic, unintelijible, untéchable, but by no menes unamendable speling now curent in England."-PROF. MAX MULLER.

In spéking ov the disgrásful state ov English orthografy and the best mode ov réforming it, the grate American lexicografer, Dr. Nóah Webster, in the introducsion tu hiz Quarto Dicshunary, says:

"Nothing can be more disreputable tu the literáry caracter ov a násion than the history ov English orthografy, unles it is that ov our orthúepy."

"Dr. Franklin compiled a dicshunary on hiz skeme ov réform, and prócured tipes tu be cast, which he ofered tu me with a vu tu engaje me tu prosecute hiz dezine. This ofer I declined tu acsept; for I wos then, and am stil, convinsed that the skeme ov intródûcing nu caracters intu the langwaje is néther practicable nor expedient. Eny atempt ov this kind must sertenly fale of sucses."

"The mode ov asertáning the prónunsiasion ov words by marks, points or trifling olterásions ov the present caracters, semes tu be the only won which can be rédûsed tu practis."

"Delitful task! to rere the tender thaut,
Tu téch the yung idéa hou tu shute,
Tu pore fresh instrucsion ó'er the mind,
Tu brethe the enlivening spirit, and tu fix
The jenerus purpos in the glóing brest."

"O, thautles mortals! ever blind tu fate,
Tu sune dejected and tu sune élate."
"Worth makes the man and want ov it the felo:
The rest is aul but lether or prúnela."

Where there iz a wil there iz a wa; and while the evil continues the nesesity for orthografic réform wil never cese. If there ar eny among us hu hav tu litle regard for there one children tu smuthe for them the path on which there infant fete must stumble, we conjure them in the name ov God and humanity tu beware ov the gráter sin ov crushing by opózing influens the rising hopes ov milyuns les fortunate, hu hav néther mony nor time tu squonder, but hu nede aul the ades posible tu enable them tu take a pozision among the intelijent, vertûus and hapy sitizens ov our grate and glórius cuntry.

The foregoing will suffice to represent Mr. Medill's idea of simplified orthography. It is almost phonetic and yet preserves most of the analogies and peculiarities of the English language. He retains the general rule that e ending a word and preceding a consonant indicates that the vowel is “long.” Thus he spells such words as believe, beleve, guide,

gide,

prove, proof,

pruve,

prufe,

. pique,

peke,

through,

thru,

school,

skule,

pade,

feel,

fele,

repair,

repare,

sleeve,

boar,

bore,

league,

lege,

blow,

blo.

Where the sound does not indicate the long vowel sound, he proposes to use accented vowels, viz.: á, é, í, ó, ú, and for the sound of u in full, should, etc, he uses ù: thus, fùl, shùd. For the broad sound of a heard in ought, caught, awful, all, broad, he employs au and spells them out; caut, auful, aul, braud, etc. For the terminals tion, sion, cian, scion, etc., he uses sion. He retains ed as the sign of the past tense, and s as that of the plural of nouns and singular of verbs. Ble as a terminal is also retained. Kis written for ch in all words in which ch has the sound of k. Ex.: arkitect, monark, skule, etc. All double consonants are reduced to single ones, as only one of them is heard in pronunciation. In all words now spelled with ck, as back, beck, lick, rock, luck, he drops the c as being wholly superfluous. In words ending in ous, he omits the o, as in curius, spurius, and when ou has the sound u he also drops the o, as in duble, jurny. He retains y at the end of nouns in the singular, as copy, foly. He writes f for ph in alfabet, fonetics, flosofy, etc. He omits all silent vowels in digraphs, and writes

The proposed system is very easily written. After an hour's practice the pen runs naturally into it. The plan is one which would cost adults scarcely an effort to learn to write, and no effort at all to learn to read it. He thinks it is the simplest and most rational compromise with existing usage, prejudice, and etymologies, which can probably be devised with any hope of acceptance, and if accepted and adopted it would secure to the Anglo-American race throughout the world one of the simplest and best orthographies in existence.

Begin every paragraph with a capital letter.

Begin every sentence following a period with a capital letter.

Begin each proper name with a capital letter.

Begin the names of places, as Boston, Newport, Niagara, with capital letters.

Begin the words, North, South, East, West, and their compounds and abbreviations, as North-east, S. W., with capital letters, when geographically applied.

Begin the names of the Deity and Heaven, or the pronoun used for the former, as, in His mercy - Thou, Father, etc., with capital letters.

Begin all adjectives formed from the names of places or points of the compass as English, Northern, each with a capital letter.

Begin each line of poetry with a capital letter.
Begin all quotations with a capital letter.

Begin all titles of books, and usually each important word of the title, as Hume's History of England, with capital letters. Begin the name of any historical event, as the French Revolution, with capital letters.

The pronoun I and the interjection O must invariably be capital letters.

Begin names of the month, as June, April, with capital letters. Also the days of the week, as Monday, Tuesday, etc. Begin all addresses, as Dear Sir-Dear Madam, with capital letters.

Capital letters must never be placed in the middle of a word.

PUNCTUATION.

HILE the omission of punctuation may not mar the appearance of writing, as do bad spelling and improper use of capitals, its correct use is, nevertheless, essential to the proper construction of a sentence.

Very ludicrous, and sometimes serious mistakes result from improper punctuation. In the following sentence, the meaning is entirely changed by the location of the semicolon.

"He is an old and experienced hand; in vice and wickedness he is never found; opposing the works of iniquity he takes delight."

"Dealer in hats, caps, boots, shoes, etc." "Hedges, trees, groves, houses, and people, all went rushing by." Towering far above us stood the pines, silent, majestic, and grand." "Verily, verily, I say unto you."

The Semicolon (;) is used where a sentence consists of several members each constituting a distinct proposition, and yet having dependence upon each other; as

"Some men are born great; some acquire greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them." Contributors: Will. M. Carleton; Wm. C. Bryant; B. F. Taylor; John G. Saxe." "Contents: Riches; Poverty; Religion."

The Colon () is used to divide a sentence into two or more parts, which, although the sense is complete in each, are not wholly independent; as

"Temperance begets virtue: virtue begets happiness." "Two questions grow out of the subject: Ist: What is the necessity of a classical education? 2d: How far can a classical education be made applicable to the ordinary business affairs of life?"

The Period () is placed at the end of every complete and independent sentence; before decimals; between pounds and shillings; after initial letters, and for abbreviations; as

The Note of Interrogation (?) is used after every sentence in which a question is asked; as

"What season of the year do you enjoy most?"

The Hyphen (-) is employed as a character between two words to show that they are connected together as a compound word; thus:

Thirty-fold, super-heated, four-leaved, etc.

It is also used at the end of a syllable when the remainder of the word follows on the next line. Also in dividing a word to show its pronunciation; as

Pro-cras-ti-nate; val-e-tud-i-na-ri-an; co-op-e-rate.

The Ellipsis (.. . .) is used to represent the omission of words, syllables, and letters, and is sometimes represented by a dash; thus, k-g for king: occasionally by stars; thus, * * * * and sometimes by periods; like these The following examples illustrate its use. of C, is said to be the fortunate individual." This was in 1850. * *** Twenty years later, in 1870, we gather up, again, the thread of our discourse." "If he had married Ah, well! it was not so to be."

"Mrs. W

His wise counsels (?) failed to accomplish their end."

Brackets [] and Parentheses ( ) are employed to enclose words thrown into a sentence by way of explanation, which could be omitted without injury to its construction; as

"I have met (and who has not) with many disappointments." "Eight (8) miles and one hundred (100) yards." "In conclusion, gentlemen, I am for the constitution, the whole constitution, and nothing but the constitution." [Great applause.]

The Dash (-) is used when the subject breaks off suddenly, and to show the omission of words, letters and figures; thus:

See rules for punctuation, in the chapter relating to "Sign Painting."

The Caret (^) is employed, in writing, to show where a word, or several words have been. omitted in the sentence, and have been placed above the line; as

A Paragraph (T) is used by the author frequently to designate, in the middle of a sentence, when he re-reads his manuscript, those words that he wishes to have commence a paragraph. It shows where something new begins.

A Section ($) usually designates the smaller distinct parts of a book.

As references they are frequently used with numbers; thus:

"87. Wedding Ceremonies in Different Countries." "172. The Law of Usury in Different States."

Leaders (----) are employed to lead the eye from one portion of the page to another across blank space; as

GRAMMAR.

RAMMAR is the art of writing or speaking a language correctly. There are eight distinct parts of speech, named as follows: Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection.

THE NOUN is the name of an object, or some quality of the same; as knife, horse, house, sharpness, speed, beauty. Nouns are of two classes, proper and common. and common. A proper noun is the name of an individual object; as England, William, Washington; and should always be capitalized. Names given to whole classes are common nouns; as sea, land, rmy, tree, etc. A PRONOUN is a word that takes the place "He reads,' of a noun; as "She studies," "It falls."

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the purpose, therefore, of this book to enter various parts of speech, along with the rules into a detailed explanation of the use of the for applying the same. Fuller instruction relating to the proper construction of language may be obtained in any of the various text books on grammar, which may be procured at the bookstores.

Mistakes Corrected.

The object in introducing the subject of grammar here is to call attention to the faults liable to be made by the writer and speaker unacquainted with a knowledge of the correct use of language. of language. To illustrate: special care should be taken to use the plural verb when the plural nominative is used; as "Trees grows "should be "Trees grow." "Birds flies" should be "Birds fly." "Some flowers is more fragrant than others," should be "Some flowers are more fragrant than others."

Care should be exercised in the use of the adjective pronoun; as "Them men" should be "Those men."

The past tense of the word do is frequently improperly used; as "I done it" should be "I did it."

Care should be taken with words terminating with ly; as "Birds fly swift" should be "Birds fly swiftly;" fly swiftly;" "She sang beautiful" should be "She sang beautifully;" "He walks rapid" should be "rapidly; "He talks eloquent should be "eloquently."

The word got is frequently unnecessarily used; as "I have got the book" should be "I have the book."

The word learn is often wrongly used in place of teach; as, "Will you learn me to write?" should be "Will you teach me to write?" The verbs lay and lie are frequently misused. The following examples illustrate the distinction to be observed in their use. Thus, "I lie down; you lie down; he lies down." But "I lay down the book; you lay down the carpet; he lays down the rules."