Show it Up i I t the Book S t. i 4 S r. r l l c 1 I By SCOTT WATSON F WHILE youre you're reading you OU come across a n word the meaning of which you do donot donot donot not know what do you oU do The chances are that you OU usk ask somebody to tell you what It means and amI the chances are also that that somebody will tell you to look It up rn to the big book or to consult Mr Webster I Fur Cur t that but Is lt what hat Americans have e been doing now for tor exactly a hundred years ears looking It up In the big book or consulting Mr Webster For It was Just lust one ODe hundred years ears ago ngo this summer sumner sum mer ner that a scene of unusual activity MS fU as taking place In the print shop of Howe In New ew Haven Conn I ud tad d Just one hundred years ago this autumn there came forth the first brat of ot Noah oah Websters Webster's American Dictionary of ot the English Language sow the suing Issuing of a dictionary Is out Dol ut In 10 itself a unique event but the Issuing of Noah oah Websters Webster's dictionary i tray 1181 7 hack l-ack there In 1828 1823 was a note- note Why thy event enot and In some respects the tut book itself was unique Heretofore Hereto Hereto- fore the speaking English world bad had funded upon Dr Samuel Johnsons Johnson's for tor authoritative spelling and deft of words But Dut when the edWan ed ed- Wan of 2500 copies of ot the new dictionary die die- nary ili-nary each consisting of two bulky volumes of more than 1000 P Pees W each appeared Doctor Johnus John John- tuss IoOS us work was already obsolete For eb neuters neuter's ter's book Look listed defined and II II- with appropriate quotations between and cords and Included words and nearly c O definitions which had bad serer oeler er before appeared In any diction diction- Ir 11 of the English tongue Most of the Definitions Web Webster Webs ter had coined anew Inel new loins doing virtually all nil of both the I mental tal and nd manual labor Involved ol un on- Misted lie He also did some revising re w and Ind and It Is to him that e ae owe OWl the fact that we write It honor last instep Instead end of honour and trav tray eler Ier Instead ad of ot traveller elJer But Dut morea more tb than a that his dictionary was almost is 10 cyclopedia In which he set aWard a n IlI Ward for accuracy and complete- complete a M of definition which th the governs go art of this date In Innear tact let near nearly all of the later diction- diction a Iles les have hare been based UP upon D Websters Webster's ork and R 1 haV have harf 1 reserved preserved hi Identical ord In a 8 large aree number of their dell deft alumna It From that little edition of 2500 2500 copies Issued In 1828 1823 have ha grown the tho million of dictionaries which are to tobe tobe tobe be found In the homes schools and offices of the speaking English world of or today and aDd every ery one of these there dictionaries die dic whether It bears his name nameon nameon nameon on Its Us cover corer or not Is a monument to 0 Noah Webster the Yankee schoolteacher schoolteacher school teacher and lawyer who devoted de for for- ty eight years ears of his bis life to a task which has bas enriched our language Immeasurably Im loo- measurably Although the words Webster and dictionary are ryn ryn- In the minds of most of us but few of us know much about theman the thu thuman man maD Noah oab Webster Nine lne out of ten perhaps would confuse contuse him with his distant relative Daniel Webster the orator and statesman Yet It Is not too much to say perhaps that the contribution con ot of Noah r Webster to American Amen Ameri can life Ute will III be an nn Important one long after that of Daniel Webster will have been forgotten entirely Noah r Webster was the son of ot a poor New ew England farmer of West Hartford Hart lIart ford tord Conn who In 1774 when Noah 1 Jr was sixteen years old mortgaged his farm to pay his sons son's expenses ID In Yale college from frore which the boy was graduated four years later Upon the day of hU Ills graduation his tat father her gave ga him nn an eight dollar Continental bill worth about four dollars at nt the time and told him that he could do no more for him Although young Webster had haj Intended to become n a lawyer la he had no means to continue his studies tat Into that field so he had to resort to teaching teach tench while he be studied ing Ins to make ranke a living law v by hy himself himself so so o successfully It proved that he was admitted to the bur bar In Hartford In ITS 1781 lie He was unable un un- able to walt wait for tor a practice however huwen r In school teaching teach III so su he again engaged lag ing this time ut lit Goshen N. N I Y V. where he be established a classical school There In liS foreseeing that Amer mer America merIca ica lea after separation from the mother country would need to have Its own school texts he planned a Grammatical ical teal Institute to Include a speller a areader areader areader reader and antI a grammar The speller FIeller was Issued first In 1783 followed In 1784 1781 by the gramm r and In 1783 h b by bythe the reader The success of the now flow famous blue blue back speller peller still familiar fa fn of millar to the older generation Americans of today was as as have ha been heen hIthe in to inthe ous us and must the young schoolmaster In p P had shown the theand the Ie i In lag tt It he and sound lound sense which 1 e l his dictionary later lt It If I 3 arranged In Ui a n more logical and serviceable manner man man- manner ner than Dilworth's speller the work of an nn Englishman previously used and Instead of dry passages ages from the Scriptures he be used Interesting If homely bomely anecdotes which appealed Immediately immediately Im im- mediately to the children who for the next hundred years ears were to be Impressed Impressed Im Im- pressed b by the moral of these By lIy 1815 1315 the sales of the speller were averaging a copies a year By they had risen to copies annually and by 1848 they were up to a year As late as 1880 1380 It was still going strong and It has been estimated that more than copies have hn been sold since 1783 Websters Webster's fame may muy rest mainly upon his hits dictionary but in a sense the dictionary owes Its existence to the speller for during the remainder of Websters Webster's life lite and especially the twenty years he spent In compiling the dictionary most of the support of hIs li family came from the profits of this little blue backed penny 15 book In 1800 1600 he be gave up all his other work to devote himself to his dictionary Ills His original plan pion was ns to correct the errors and und supply the omissions In older older old old- er dictionaries especially Johnsons So Ru he spent a number of years ears c col l- l words Then realizing his own lack of ot knowledge as to the origin of f words he changed his plan For the tho next nest ten years he devoted himself to a comparative e study of words and when he was sixty six years old having exhausted exhausted ex ex- hausted all the resources of libraries In this country he went to France rance and England to complete his work worl Finally I his hie great task was done clone and andIn I In to the autumn of ot 1823 1323 It came from the press Not ot content to rest ret after afler a quarter century of Incessant labor labur on one exacting task the sturdy ol old Yankee Yunkee set about revising re some somo of his earlier works In IS 1810 10 he published a his bis dictionary and revised re edition dIllon of v he was In the hI midst of ot n a s second con reI revisIon re- re when death came to 10 I Ion vis-Ion lon In to 1843 18 el a I in him hint So the next time you OU come across a word whose meaning you OU do not understand understand un un- Ill before tore you ou ask somebody what It means think of ot the admonition tion of one lne chronicler of Webster career carper career If there Is III one too lazy hazy t to take the dozen halt steps stepi necessary to reach the dictionary let him ids lo Jc- Jc tore lure the Connecticut scholar spend l Gig ing twenty five years ears pacing about li h h table hide hid fore his hie huge hue with dictionaries of ot all languages frol rot Arabic to 10 Icelandic so that he night I work to the world his give J e great |