Plain English

The door opens, and a slight, small, shy and insignificant looking thing steps into the arena. It is Truth. The vast audience bursts into hilarious and derisive laughter. What! Is this Truth? This shuddering thing in tattered clothes, and almost naked? And the house shakes again with mocking and hisses.

The door opens again, and Error enters—clad in cloth of gold, imposing in appearance, tall of stature, glittering with gems, sleek and huge and ponderous, causing the building to tremble with the thud of its steps. The audience is for a moment dazzled into silence, then it breaks into applause, long and deafening. "Welcome!" "Welcome!" is the greeting from the multitude. "Welcome!" shout ten thousand throats.

The two contestants face each other. Error, in full armor—backed by the sympathies of the audience, greeted by the clamorous cheering of the spectators; and Truth, scorned, scoffed at, and hated. "The issue is a foregone conclusion," murmurs the vast audience. "Error will trample Truth under its feet."

The battle begins. The two clinch, separate, and clinch again. Truth holds its own. The spectators are alarmed. Anxiety appears in their faces. Their voices grow faint. Is it possible? Look! See! There! Error recedes! It fears the gaze of Truth! It shuns its beauteous eyes! Hear it shriek and scream as it feels Truth's squeeze upon its wrists. Error is trying to break away from Truth's grip. It is making for the door. It is gone!

The spectators are mute. Every tongue is smitten with the palsy. The people bite their lips until they bleed. They cannot explain what they have seen. "Oh! who would have believed it?" "Is it possible?"—they exclaim. But they cannot doubt what their eyes have seen—that puny and insignificant looking thing called Truth has put ancient and entrenched Error, backed by the throne, the altar, the army, the press, the people and the gods—to rout.

The pursuit of truth! Is it not worth living for? To seek the truth, to love the truth, to live the truth? Can any religion offer more?—Mangasarian.

SPELLING

LESSON 23

Many words contain letters for which there are no corresponding sounds in the spoken words. Thus, in the spoken word though there are only two sounds, the th and the o; u and g and h are silent. There are a great many words in the English language which contain these silent letters. There has been a movement inaugurated for the purpose of simplifying the spelling of these words, omitting these silent letters. Some writers have adopted this method of simplified spelling, and so in some magazines and books which you read you will find these silent letters dropped; for example, you will find though spelled tho, through spelled thru.

This method of simplified spelling has not been universally adopted and we have not followed it in these lessons because we feared that it would be confusing. Probably in most of your reading you will find the old method of spelling followed and all of these silent letters included. No doubt, as time goes on, we shall adopt this simplified method of spelling and drop all of these silent and useless letters.

In our spelling lesson for this week we have a number of words containing silent letters.

MONDAY

In a number of words you will find ea pronounced as short e. The board of simplified spelling has suggested that we drop the a, which is a silent letter, from these words. If we adopted their suggestion, words like head would be spelled hed. Note the spelling of the following words in which ea is pronounced as short e and the a is silent.

Spread, stead, threat, meant, pleasant, stealth.

TUESDAY

We have a number of words ending in ough in which the gh is silent.

1. In some of these words the ou is pronounced like ow. We have already changed the spelling of a few of these words, for example, we no longer use plough, but write it plow.

2. In other words ending with ough the ugh is silent and the words end with a long o sound, as in though. Many writers have dropped the silent letters ugh and spell this simply tho.

3. A few other words ending with ough end with a u sound and those who adopt the simplified spelling have dropped the ough and used simply u, as in through; many writers spell it simply thru. Observe the spelling of the following words and mark the silent letters:

Bough, through, thorough, furlough, borough, though.

WEDNESDAY

We have a number of words ending in mn in which the n is silent. Note the spelling of the following words:

Autumn, solemn, column, kiln, hymn, condemn.

THURSDAY

We have a number of words containing a silent b. Notice the spelling of the following words:

Doubt, debt, dumb, limb, thumb, lamb.

FRIDAY

A number of words end with silent ue after g. Some writers omit the ue and probably after a while we will drop this silent ue, but you will find it used now in most of your reading. These are such words as:

Catalogue, demagogue, decalogue, tongue, league, harangue.

SATURDAY

We have a number of words ending with gh in which the gh has the sound of f, as in the following words:

Trough, rough, enough, laugh, tough, cough.

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 24

Dear Comrade:

We have finished our study of the different parts of speech and are going to enter upon the work of sentence building. In the next few lessons we will gather up all that we have been studying in these lessons so far. This is a good time to give this work a thorough review. Perhaps there have been a number of things in the lessons which you have not thoroughly understood, or perhaps there have been some rules for which you have not seen the reason. Now as we begin to construct our sentences, all of this will fit into its place. We shall find the reason for many of the things which may not have seemed thoroughly clear to us.

There is a science in language as in everything else, and language, after all, is governed by the will of the people. This has seemed so self-evident to those who make a special study of the language and its development that they have given this power a special name. They speak of the "Genius of the Language" as though there was some spirit guiding and directing the developing power of language.

There is a spirit guiding and directing the developing power of language. That spirit is the creative genius of the people. It is the same spirit that would guide and direct all phases of life into full and free expression, if it were permitted to act. There being no private profit connected with the control of the language, the creative genius of the people has had fuller sway.

The educator sitting in his study cannot make arbitrary rules to change or conserve the use of words. The people themselves are the final arbiter in language. It is the current usage among the masses which puts the final stamp upon any word. Think what this same creative genius might do if it were set free in social life, in industrial life. It would work out those principles which were best fitted to the advance of the people themselves. But those who would profit by the enslavement of the people have put stumbling blocks,—laws, conventions, morals, customs,—in the way of the people.

Their creative genius does not have full sway or free sweep, but let us rejoice that in language, at least, we are free. And let us, as we realize the power of the people manifest in this phase of life, determine that the same power shall be set free to work out its will in all life. Some day the revolution will come. The people will be free to rule themselves, to express their will, not in the realms of words alone, but in their social and economic life; and as we become free within, dare to think for ourselves and to demand our own, we each become a torch of the revolution, a center of rebellion—one of those who make straight the path for the future.

    Yours for the Revolution,
    THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

SENTENCE BUILDING

400. Every expression of a complete thought is a sentence. A sentence is the unit in language. Words are the material out of which we build our sentences, so we have been studying the various parts of speech that are used in sentence building. Now we are ready to use these parts of speech in the building of sentences. We have found that there are eight parts of speech, though the interjection, which is termed the eighth part of speech, is not in reality a part of the sentence; but is a complete, independent construction. So in your sentences all of the many hundreds of words which we use can be grouped into seven divisions; nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions.

401. You remember in our first lesson we found that there were just three kinds of sentences. The assertive, the interrogative and the imperative; or in other words, sentences which state a fact, ask a question or give a command. We also found that these three kinds of sentences could all be expressed in exclamatory form.

THREE KINDS OF SENTENCES

Assertive. Makes a statement.

Interrogative. Asks a question.

Imperative. Gives a command.

Assertive sentence;I remember the day.