bs. In
either case it is shifting the burden from the shoulders of adults to
those of children, already, as the reformers tell us, overburdened and
overworked. When a man really and sincerely asks himself the question,
"Do I pronounce _lashed_ as though written _lasht_?" and tests his own
practice in that respect, it will not take him long to determine that he
does not know. It requires a very delicate ear to make the
determination. This may also be said of most of the words quoted above.
The terminal _ed_ means something: it means what it purports to mean
when used. The _t_ may have a meaning, but that meaning cannot accompany
it when it acts as a substitute for _ed_. The common-sense view would
be, in cases of doubt, to use letters with a significance you desire to
convey by their use.

In the paper to which I have referred Professor March informs us that
"what _the scholars_ want for historical spelling is a simple and
uniform fonetic system, which shall record the current pronunciation."
This assumption is not accidental, I think, nor is the spirit of the
Pharisee confined to Professor March. Nearly all of the advocates of
this special "reform" assume the prerogative of determining who are and
who are not "scholars." In the same paper the professor says: "The
_scholars proper_ have, in truth, lost all patience with the
etymological objection. 'Save us from such champions!' says Professor
Whitney: 'they may be allowed to speak for themselves, since they know
best their own infirmity of back and need of braces: the rest of the
guild, however, will thank them for nothing.'" Again: "In conclusion, it
may be observed that it is mainly among _half-taught dabblers_ in
filology that etymological spelling has found its supporters. _All true
filologists_ and filological bodies have uniformly denounct it as a
monstrous absurdity, both from a practical and a scientific point of
view." The professor also quotes approvingly Professor Lounsbury as
saying that the "spelling reform numbers among its advocates _every
linguistic scholar_ of any eminence whatever." Of course, these
statements, whether made by Professor March or by the distinguished
scholars whom he cites, are strong arguments. That the professor so
considers them is attested by the logical conclusion drawn from them in
the very next paragraph after the one in which they are given. There he
says: "It may be taken, then, as certain, and agreed by all whose
judgment is e