112 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



the end of the words ' bone,' ' stone,' etc. ? " I have no doubt the 

 answer would be "To indicate the vowel length of 'o.'" We cer- 

 tainly have come to believe this, but it will be well to remember 

 that the ' e ' in this class of words was at one time a distinct sylla- 

 ble, thus making ' bone ' a dissyllable. Such a device, says Profes- 

 sor Skeat, " would never have been consciously invented by any 

 sane being. It is the greatest stumbling-block to reformed spell- 

 ing." 



Is it to be deemed a thing incredible that the Anglo-Saxon race 

 should amend its present unscientific and cumbrous orthography ? 

 Is it not very unwise, to obstruct the avenue to education with an 

 obstacle such as the present spelling ? What stands in the way of 

 reform — sentiment ? Sentiment may constrain some to oppose the 

 movement for reform. We respect sentiment — sentiment has been 

 the lever of great actions in other days^ and will be in the time to 

 come ; however, sentiment has her confines and should not trespass 

 on the ground of education, progress and refinement. Sentiment 

 may induce the artist to choose as the subject for his picture a stage- 

 coach rather than a railway carriage ; a sailing-vessel rather than a 

 modern steamship ; wild, rocky scenery rather than a well-tilled 

 farm — but then the majority of us are not picture painters, nor, for 

 that matter, word painters, I may hazard the opinion, too, that the 

 artistic sentiment of the painter would not enter into the question if 

 speed, comfort and convenience were under consideration. I think, 

 however, that sentiment can be satisfied if hoary age will at all do 

 so. Our ancestors in the centuries gone by spelt according to sound, 

 and spelling-reformers, recognizing the wisdom of such a principle, 

 desire to return to that laudable method, nothing more. 



Other great nations of the world have reformed their spelling. 

 French is fairly consistent, which ours is not. German is practically 

 phonetic, Spanish is readable at once to anyone understanding the 

 sound values of the letters of the alphabet, and Dutch, Italian, and 

 other languages have also been successfully phoneticised. Are 

 we less able than they to perform that work ? Cannot the 

 scholarship be found in English-speaking lands to accomplish this 

 end ? I say yes, emphatically yes ; and it is to be borne in mind 

 that all scholars eminent in the field of philology in England and 

 America have declared in favor of a change. If the English tongue 

 is to become the universal language of the future it must shake off, 



