The Spelling Mania

Dr. Mosa was about right when he said, ut a lato spelling-match between two Christian associations, that the man isn't entitled to muck respect who cannot j spell any word in the English language in more ways thau one, There are oertainly two ways in whioh every English word maybe spelled - oneaspionounced, [ and one as it is written. But tionality is a dreadful thing. The man who pronounces an English word as it is written makes himself about as ridiculous as the man who writes an English ' word as it is pronounced. One would {hink that so palpable a contradiction as this might be eorrected in the interest of more than 100,000,000 people. The glisli language is spoken and written by more people than the. language of any ! other civilized people. Yet none other is so barbarous in its othography and orthoepy. The language is a jumble, from the complex character of its origin. A mixturo of Anglo-Saxon, ! French and Germán, acquiring its Greek ■ through the Latin, and its Latin through the French, it is a composite of riclmess and irregularity. We h ve departed from the almost universal rule of tivatcd tongues in the relations between spelling and pronuneiation. Sanscrit, i Greek, Latiu, Italian, Germán, Spanish ai-o all written as they are pronounced, and pronounced as they are written. Having acquired the organic sounds peculiar to the different nationalities, it is an easy matter to spell the words correctly in any of these languages. Even in the Erench there are rules which govern the discrepancies between orthography and sound. Not so in English. Henee tho English-speaking people are ' neoessarüy "bad spellers." To spell English correctly comes by nature much more than Dogberry's reading and ing, for the accomplishment is the result of a retentive niemory, as wcll as long application. The most seriona application will fail without the assistance of this natural gift of a tenacious memory. The new amusementof spelling matchen, oíd and familiar in the country-school ; districts, has, in its present form, a wide field of usefuluess as well as entertainment. As if in keeping with the contradiotory character of the language, : nothing írings one into ridicule as ly as bad si)elling. The printers and the j proof-readers get an (lxcss of abuse j whioh they do not merit. If thoy would j put into type and pass every word as it : is written in editorials, local articles, advertisements and Communications (cspicially the latter), the issue of a large morning daily would be a more wonderful ortliographical product than the wildest efforts of Josh Bilhng or mus