TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12592, 7 September 1906, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The scene at the Military The School when Dreyfus reTriumph ceived tangible reparation of for the wrong done him Dreyfue. in the shape of the Cross • • of the Legion of Honour, was short and simple, but intensely dramatic. It did not take place in quite the same spot where eleven years before the emblems of his rank were torn off him, and his sword broken; at his express wish the scene was changed from the great paTade ground to a smaller one, as he felt unequal to having all the hideous memories' of the past vividly recalled to his mind. Dreyfus, who wore his artillery uniform, is described as looking somewhat unmilitary, the terrible trials of eleven years having bowed his head and whitened his hair. Ho moved, says one correspondent, as though in a trance. Tho troops were drawn up in hollow square, with one side open, and Dreyfue and another officer who was to be decorated, first walked round the lines, and received the salutes of the officers. Then trumpets rang out, and officers of the Legion advanced to the front; onoa mors trumpets sounded, and drums rolled, and General Gil' lain advanced to present tho decorations. "In the name of the French people," he said, "and in virtu© of the powers conferred on mc by the Minister for War,. I make you, Major Dreyfus, Knight of the Legion of Honour." Then the General kissed Dreyfus on both cheeks, and gave him the military salute, amid a hurricane of cheers from the spectators. The troops broke up the formation and marched out immediately, and the ceremony was over. The General epoke a few words to Dreyfus on leaving, und then a crowd of friends surrounded the central figure. Someone cried "Vive Dreyfue." "No," he said, finding his voice for a moment, "I beg of you"—and stopped, chokingly. Then his eldest son, almost a man, broke through the circle, and Dreyfus took the in hie arms and embraced him and wept. "I have stood in a square to watch a man hear his death sentence read," says the correspondent. "I have looked by the light of a candle at « dear friend lying wrapped in a blanket in his shallow grave; but the one deserved his fate, and the other.-had met dpath hon-

ourably, and neither ecene moved mc like yesterday's ehort ceremony." So many were the congratulatJons that it was some time beforo Dreyfue could reach the room where his wife waa waiting for him. There M. Anatole France, General Picquart, and others epoke a few words of congratulation, end Dreyfua and hie wife then drove away amid the cheere of the crowd. "But come curious feeling, which I do not know how to define— perhaps it was a mixfure of shamefacedneas and wounded self-esteem — stopped the cry which must have rieen to many lips of 'Vive Dreyfus. , One heard instead, 'Vive la justice,' 'Vive I'armee." , Some caustic comments on Against the reformed spelling of Spelling Mr Carnegie and Ms Board Reform, are made by a. writer in the "Sydney Morning Herald." He reminds us that it has been computed by a, New York publisher that if ell silent letters were cut out, and spellings such as "plow" for plough, and "wrot" for wrought were introduced, the saving in tho United Statos alone would bo 15,000,000.: dollars a year. This, the writer implies, ig typically American—-consider tho dollars. The Americans consider that the Rockefellers a.nd the Vanderbilte and the Carnegiee represent the very pinnacle of attainment, in spite of the anti-millionaire campaign of the magazines. "The Indian girl calls her baby 'worthless on©,' but it ie more in her heart to worship him as the very pearl among babies. So tho American magazines treat their millionaires, and they listen when one of them proposes tho slaughter of a word, for "though money is a, curse, it 'talks.' Of course Mr Carnegie did not invent the idea of spelling 'though , 'tho, , but his backing, influence, end money will be valuable to tho wordbutchers' of the American Prose —and there is always that fifteen million dollars." 0/ tho changes proposed only one meets with tho approval of this critic—the omission of the"v" in words such ac honour. But even here ho would keep the"v" for literature, and let despised pressmen cave time by using tho Abbreviated form. "His honor rooted in dishonor stood" strikos him (as it might others, we dare say) ac kicking in romance. The other changes, euch as "ax." "coquet," "altho," 'Thniout," and "decalog," are all ugly to him. "Decalog" he thinks will result in on increase of crime, for who can respect such, a tiling, shorn of tho two quiet vowels which carried weight and mystery P We asked to spell theatre "theater," ochre "ocer" (and presumably "ogre" "oger"), apprise "apprize," bnaiso "brace" (and presumably "supprize," "cheesae," and "praze" will follow), roller "roler," and aerial "erial." The girl of the future is to be'"elaspt" and "kiat," "a proceeding in.which no really nice girl will find savour— J mean savor." Through, with its suggestion of rounded lips, becomes "thru," with its suggestion of an American, talking through his nose.

"Up from Earth's center, thru the Seventh Gate," may become in time—

"Up from Earth's center, thru the 7th GB,"

which, suggests the use of quite a number of figures to save time, such as in "■a thing of beauty is a joy 4ever." " Mr Carnegie must sooner ,or later discover," says the writer, with a parting' thrust, "the amazing truth, that there are indeed some few- things which even money cannot buy. We all meet disillusion and defeat, and it is possible that this spelling reform will be Mr Carnegie's Waterloo."