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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1879)
November, 1879. THE WEST SHORE. Tlw following five rulti have been reoom mended by the American Philological Aoeocia- tion: 1. Omit a from the tlgnt ta when pronounced u . short, s in hoi, helth, etc. J. Omit silent e alter a ehort vowel, as In hav, yiv, etc 8. Write lor In each words m allabet, fanlom, etc i. When word endi with a double letter, omit the hut, M in a, ehal, oiil, etc. Chani(e fd Anal to ( when it haa the aound ol t, a in laeht, imprest, etc In advocating theae change in an address before the Spelling Reform Aaiociation at Phila delphia, Mr. North aaid : " There is no sound reason why every journal in the land ahould not at oncu adopt the Ave rules and resolutely carry them into the newapaper and job office. Within a month from the change, every con atituency will be habituated to the improve ment, and what is better, couoious that it is an improvement. "The silent letters are nothing but the relics of modos of utteranoe which formerly prevailed. I limited and eluded sounds have disappeared, leaving behind them these gravestones for us to stumble over. Hundreds of these silent let ters have disappeared in turn. The hundreds remaining will follow them some time. The eternal friotion of language catches a new one every now and than. Why should they not all go at once, or in battalions? "It is years since any of us Inst dropped the superfluous 'me' off 'programme.' Already many are used to dropping the liual 'te' from the entire group of words like tiyarttlt, quar Mtf, rtiqurttr; and the words have gained a manly, straightforward appearance from the elision. There is nothing in the five rules more radi cal, more orthographically oNlrr, than are the changes alluded to above. Why do we continue to carry that ualv 'miA.' like an old man of the sea, upon the backs of our thoroutjht, Ihmujht and oorouoAr? Iong ago the people of my county sanctioned its taking olT, when they per nutted the descendants of the founders of the first village ulanted on the head waters of the Mohawk river to shorten up their 'Whites Iwrough,' so thst the village letter-writer might have time to reach the mail before it closed. Who will miss the 'ue' that the spelling reform association begs ths newspaper tiidrim fr.im thn rnir lit rl.i lutlttf Slid iltlHil gotjut where the pair hav been silently catching a stolen rule far all these generations; v ny should not the press be a Hero to kick tins id trading letter I out of the alphabet a it is to drive a thief oat of public office' Why must we use a t and aa A. when a amide is better than both! Why ahould w longer flatter 4or oonaooanta by the inevitable doublet at every possible opportunity' All the world stop when It is thro' -eioeot the printer. With him, as with the witches, it is an endless 'doable, dou ble. toil and trouble. 1 "i If l lie several phases of th practical aspect ol tins .Miction as applied to Journalism, wie ins of time, labor and money is of th first im tnrtanav A column of printed matUr after th moaner of th flv ml, has shown s mi nl not unite nan letter t s line. If th whole inner had been spelled in th soma cn nominal fashion, the asvinir woald have beea 7.500 letter per day-more than 1000,000 letters a Tin or about on thirty sll III of th total number of letter, and and re-ad in th ocwpa.toa of th 913 fmae. Thaw Sgaraa hlinn aware impisseiv, whn spplid to U large ouarte ediUoe of the aaJWBaUts nraao, Thiy beoooi still more impriv, wbn by so elUnsion of th same calculation, we nod that th ATM dailv narxn to th t'nild Hint ore sotting up cod re -durtri bating over and arm sgain.1, 530.000,000 of th MpsjrflaoaJ Utteft which would disappear Slllisaiil and an mourned from owe snUi. t... t. ths tivs rales. Th wetkly and rnoalhly pre, numbering 6,300, r eatting up the same uum ber of superlluous letters. If the opptumot ol th spelling reform will stop long enough to count one billion, he msy oonsent t bliv b. ore nis task is mushed, that it is worth while to save the vital rneruv. the nreuioua time th. costly labor thus wasted in blind homage U the frailties of our mother teugu. To put this iiuestion in sum her form, thiscsluulstimi shows tii.it enough of these iiipertliioue latter sr used by those who neglect th tiv rule, to nil tun nvs issues a year ol the journal with which I am eon Heeled." HoumiiNii iii LaUKK.-Uarn to strive for much and to be content with little. Im not im agine that the ouly reason why others fail of ao- onmplishing all they undertake is beoauo ol ill laid plana or miadirectad effort. Thm may, A ilovernment party asvsral yeais ago e plnred the canyon ol th I'alnradnal Ih Wat. Thy Ant pmoedd down th lnn rlvr. which enters th I'nitsli rang by daring, hril lisnt r. I gorg, visible from the north at a di lance ol 'JO mile. Th great mass of mnmitaiii ridg through which th g.irg 1 cut is oom. pnw d ul bright i ci mi. rocks . but they sr. surmounted by hi.. id bands of mottled boll and grsy, win. I me down with a gentle mm lo ths water's dg on the hearer slope of th mountain. This is Ilia head of llie llrst eanyno ol a aerie made by thrivr through this rang. I'he cliffs an aboal 1,910 (set Wli. Major !'owl! nauiil it r'lamiu- liorge. Our engTt lag illustrates th pieterseipieue ol the seen, ry in that neighborhood. A Hraiito Bitty,. Th funk ol Kuglau-I was wasPSStlsw WfTlV tTfE&ymmmKmmW AT ( AMI' KLAMIN'i nay, tbar probably will oom a lira, whtt, wrig-hed to th balome of another's mind, you yourself will lx louod wanting Wi may all strive, bat lew of us can win sven th half of all ws hop to win. 'Tl so y matter te have faith in oanlv. but not so piat te b. proved by th -world. Then ws hot no Ales nnder th (Irwat. but on Hannibal, on Hatpin, on Cooor. no Nspoteo. ThT was bat ua Mhkapre, owl. ten, then ws Ul on ! lot; yet, the World vT, trior ato fsinr train than th son Teaayao feaolly placed before oa: UihiiIw a Unial I, aa hssh Mr kwSrVts at ... s4 s.sr, .- su4. I'ssswvsw. as osss TUletarWws " Ws ahoaldl osv Ins faith m osnelvw owl la ear hot aad psaaa ! u itn, . allow eanslve. u i- mioiiy ieop son of oar awsjo efcaold tell, I hoald never ...,ll if ss May of oar namta lorvr tev.l-d. -Kotif Mommfm faslea I. UHIKN llivr.lt. I'TAH locofpoeolrd la lot" II snvef flee n of gronn l sod srpioy WU clsfhs. There are a wii.d. w. on the Ut light I dsnlllssl Ihrusgh Sfsaa Mite. No mob U lake taw honk. Ihenforw. without eaanon te holler to lea metM wslls The clack In Ik enter of Ik. book has Ally dials elUMkl te it leWg at. Urns r soak lo to eort, oast assgioe in perieet order ate always lo neviloaae la aaa of In. Mrtai. rfroMO t'catsi White Wi NibeUegeo" a Isslag prfifO. at Maaatfc, rurally, th drop scwa look Ifs. Happily then as metallic earteta waiak episU.I th su Ims taw aaetlaurwaa, sad ths. aa nawtuielf b.w.re.1 Alter aaaaa htlte iotettep Una, Ike An was sllawk. sad la aaten awal thfoagh law pas at chomd rasnaiat Ih. n.ll.1 of the