PLEA FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. 20? 



pair. "Fifteen vowels and diphthongs are represented in our language 

 in more than seventy ways ! One of our elementary sounds has at least 

 nine representatives ! I mean e, represented in nine different ways in 

 the words me, heat., beet, mien, key, receive, marine, people, and coeliac ; 

 and these, be it remembered, all denote but one power of e. Another 

 power of e is denoted in six ways — as in met, dead, said, oedipus, guest, 

 friend. On the other hand most of our vowel letters have several pow- 

 ers ; thus a has three, e four, i three, and so on ; in all over fifty ; but 

 these are not distinct, i. e. a has in some situations a power which is al- 

 so denoted by e, u the same as e, i and o, and o even in one case the 

 same as short i, (women). The combinations of vowel marks represent 

 simple vowel sounds, and that in the most fantastic rnanner ; thus ey in 

 they is equivalent to one power of a, but in key it denotes a power of e. 

 In short no analogy or rule is followed. Amidst this irregularity and 

 confusion, instead of wondering that so many cannot read, I am sur- 

 prised that so many accomplish the task." 



Yes, it is a matter of surprise that so many are content to wade 

 through all this mire, and that such a mass of arbitrary and awkward 

 irregularities does not defy their patience. As for the poor mute, we 

 may condole with him, but no one can wonder at his silence, for who 

 would en'courage him to undertake so herculean a task as this r Add to 

 the illustrations given above, another, viz. the termination o?/^/i (e.g.) in 

 rough. The mute commences the word, and by rolling his tongue 

 against the roof of his mouth he intimates to you that he understands 

 the power of the fii-st letter, r. Next comes o, and after it u, both of 

 which he enounces distinctly. The g he recognizes and expresses its 

 value by pressing the root of the tongue and the palate together and 

 then exploding the breath from his lungs. The h is the aspirate, which 

 he has easily learned to form, being nothing more than a rapid expira- 

 tion. Now he has them all, and he is next to combine them into one 

 syllable, r-o-u-g-h. He looks up in amazement. You give him to un- 

 derstand that all that array of signs must actually be expressed by one 

 effort, and you teach him the sound of this remarkable monosyllable. 

 Ther-e are enough that are quite as tough. Presently he meets with 

 though, and very naturally he pronounces it ihuff. Has his teacher suc- 

 ceeded in showing him that ough expresses sometimes no more than 

 simply 0, he next stumbles upon plough, where ough =otv. Even here 

 his perplexities are not at an end, for he has not yet got through. 



Reader, can you still smile at the oddities of English orthography 

 as it existed three hundred years ago, and not blush at the criminal in- 

 difference that perpetuates such absurdities as these ? For the sake of 



