THE FACULTY OF SPELLING.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIE,—As one who has spent half-a-century in the work of education, may I be allowed to say a word as to spelling ? I am pretty certain that bad spelling is simply caused by lack of observation. The word is seen, the meaning is caught, the orthography is lost. My plan in our National School in the town of Wantage was this. I wrote on the blackboard in English letters a few lines from some Greek author, and told the child to copy them. Then I bade him look carefully at his written words, and compare them with the copy, awarding some slight punishment if, after full time given, he had written them wrong. As he did not know the meaning or sound of the words, this plan enforced attention, and rarely failed to make him at least a fair speller.—I am, Sir, &c., Deanery, Lincoln, September 23rd. WILLIAM BUTLER,
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