THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES CTT- B. 0. BAKER lAWYm i^AllAS, TEXAS IN MEMORIAM ELIZA BOARDMAN BURNZ Born, October 31, 1823 Deceased, June 19, 1903 PRINTED IN ROMAN TYPE AND IN FONIC-SHORTHAND BURNZ & CO. 94 East lOth Street NEW YORK Copyright, 1906. by BURNZ & CO. PREFATORY APOLOGY. This little book is offered to the public, nearly three years after the decease of its subject, with frank acknowledgment of «2 delay and humble prayer for forgiveness. ^ It is published in order that the world may know, by the Auto- >- biografy which was given in a number of the Phonographic World ^ during her life and from the several memorial notices after her OS 3 death and the other matter herein, all that may yet be known of how she came, who she was and what she was. I say yet he ktioicn, ^ because she put seed in the groimd which she hoped will sprout tt and grow into a mighty tree — her " Pure Phonies " seed of lan- ^ guage teaching. Read of this life, my gentle people — especially you who have knowledge of Sir Isaac Pitman's work for phonetic representation 3 of language in writing and print — you who are phonographers — 3 Fonic Shorthanders. Humbly yours, Channing Burnz. 448571 %\AJ.jhlJ4(i ^ (mmA/ MRS. ELIZA BOARDMAN BURNZ, abt. 18 9 0. AUTHOR OF FOMC-SHORTHAND AND INVENTOR OF PRONOUNCING PRINT. ORDER OF CONTENTS. Autobiografy of Eliza B. Burnz Mrs. Burnz' Account of her Case Letter to Fonic-Shorthand Corresponding Club My Childhood's Mother .... Death Notice, School Journal . Death Notice, Sunday Gazetteer In Memoriam Paper and Resolutions of N. Y. State Stenographers' Association Poems by Mrs. Eliza B. Burnz . Anent Shorthand Writing Hereof Number Writing in Fonic- Shorthand Pages 4—67 6&— 73 74—81 82—91 92, 93 94, 95 96—105 106—111 112—119 120—123 ■\ „ / s-s ■; "^ -) '^ /> / ^•■■*^ --^ ) " // /, // " .....(Mfi!T;^^7^^< /- f-^ ^ y^-Ji-P "^ ~Y 1 ..: ^ ^ 1^ ^ "V, / A c\ 6 — ^ > alone it has been, through all the j^ears past, who has been at all times and upon every occasion ready and anxious to raise her voice in behalf of that great movement, and to her unflagging zeal and tireless energy is due the greatest part of the promi- nence which it enjoys in this country to-day. In private life, in the schoolroom, on the public platform and before the editor's desk, at all times and at every opportunity, has she pleaded and urged the force of her convictions, putting into her life's work not only the whole energy of her mind and body, but contributing to it as well every dollar which has resulted to her from her labors, and which was earned only to be again east upon the stream of progress, that, like bread cast upon the waters, it should return after many days, not to her, but to the people for whom she labored. And this has been her life. For the people, for the cause of educational advancement in which she was engaged, without other recompense than the knowledge that she was battling for the right, for a phonetic and orthographic reform which will surely dawn, some day, the world over, and in the accomplish- ment of which, in this country, she has been chiefly instrumental. Surel}', for the World's " Autumn Leaves," no other could have been chosen, among women, so prominent, so deserving of first place, or about whose early life, early struggles, experiences, discouragements and successes, so much of interest would attach, or whom it would be so desirable to accurately preserve in his- tory for the future record and reference of coming generations. AUTOBIOGRAPHY: You ask me for reminiscences of my early life; of my ancestry and childhood as well of my later years. I fear your readers will be little interested in these V '^' ^' S ' ^' "^ M. \ 1 J-^ ^ L^ ^ i fzi y ' r _ , I-" ly^ '^^ , ^ o' "A ' ; ^ ( r c ?, /' ^ At f -1 ^ Ci* 1 " ,^:,' ^■ -^ / H X v^ V ' "^ ^ ^h ■^ ^ / '. / '-^ - ..- ^ " - S i ^ ^, '— -^ , ^-r- ^, c^, \ } ' .=:-'. : " A _ ^ , "^ ^ ..-^ --^ , , \^ ) V- (^ V^- » ^ ^^2' ^ '~'— . -^ u / "?> •t> .-^ - <^ ^ ^ \ -3^, ." .CA. ^ J k* 10 My mother was the younger daughter of Thomas Thomason, a prosperous linen-draper at Thaxted, in Essex. He was a man of marked religious character and held in great consideration by his fellow townsmen on account of his excellent business qualities, strict integrity and general benevolence. His third wife, my grandmother, bore him two boys and two girls, dying of consumption soon after the birth of my mother. The latter possessed her father's characteristics, and was a refined and cul- tured woman, whom all her children venerate. My parents re- moved to London in 1825, and I was the oldest of eight children. My health was so delicate, until after the age of ten, that my remembrances are considerably mixed up with leaches, lancing, blisters and bitter potions, alternating with visits, in summer, to my paternal grandmother's at Yarmouth, not far from the sea- side. There, in the mornings, I walked with my aunt Ann on the seashore, picked up shells and watched the mackerel boats come in. During the day Aunt Ann taught me to darn stockings, a thread over and a thread under, just like lace work ; and if a stitch was missed the row of stitches had to come out. The tax on my childish patience was awful, and many times did I try to shirk the task; yet, often since, when piles of stockings and socks lay before me for repair, have I blessed the memory of Aunt Ann, who bore so patiently with my frowardness. One summer I was sent to Sandwich, where my uncle. Rev. Denny Ray Thomason, officiated as minister. There I remember hearing him preach from the text, " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." I could not read then, and at the village school the dame taught me the difference in the shape of " b " and " d." The " b " looked forward and stepped on its toe, while " d " 11 t,-i Va-iJ i ^ ^,11 A L / ( ^ ^ J ^ \ ^<^ I 7 ^1 v.^^. / \ >! 1 ( (^ „.' e_.. ^ "... 1 v^ ^ ' , ^ / /"^ X looked backward and stood flat on its foot. More tlian once I was sent to stay with Mrs.Thake,who had been housekeeper for grand- father Thoniason during my mother's childhood and growing up. Mr. Thake was a well-to-do farmer of Essex, and there I saw country life. Baking, brewing and butter and cheese making were processes for close investigation and inquiry as to the " how " and the " why." I remember one day going with some of the neighbors' children to glean in a field where M'heat had been cut the day before. All of the cutting was done by hand, with a sickle, and, after the grain had been tied in bundles and set up in shocks, the field would be strewed with heads of wheat, the straws of which were too short to be tied up. This refuse the poorer class of villagers had permission to glean. Tlie women and children picked up the wheat and put it in their large aprons, the bottom being turned up and the corners tied at the back of the waist, so that a sort of bag was made of the apron. I set to gathering the wheat-heads with other children, but soon encountered scowling looks and then mutterings: " Lunnon's come to glean." Pretty soon Mrs. Thake sent for me, and explained that these poor people did not like to spare from their gatherings even the little I should pick up. A boy named Henry Maddox lived near, and from him I learned much bird-lore. He often threw stones at the crows and jays, for it seems innate with boys to see marks for missiles in all living objects. But some birds he did not molest. I asked him one day why he did not throw at a saucy robin that came very near. He replied: " The Martin and Swaller are God's shirt and collar, The Robin and Titter wren are God's cock and hen. 13 ■M^ ^l r I J V \ C^ ^ "^ ^A ^ > L • •-■ ^■, X ^ , ^ ^ ~7 i \„^^V,. ■)■ ^■■>->/' -' S ' f' I—- '^>, „ ' x w \ r ' ^ ^-v. ' " o "^ f^-^ ^ .yr^. r. :^, mi4^,ml^.i {jlA. ^^. r\_^._:_ 14 I never throw at them." Until the age of ten I went to school but little, yet I must have learned to read early; for long before then the weary hours of invalidism were beguiled by reading the works of Miss Edgeworth and Hannah More; but mostly the companions of my couch were the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's Holy War, Fox's Book of Martyrs, Josephus and other religious books. Although, during the greater portion of my childhood, I was weak and suffering, I did not think of dying young. I early determined that when grown I would be a teacher or missionary. Once, when about eight years old, my mother took me to a noted physician. Dr. Goddard. We entered the consulting room, and I, being very timid, hung back and stood near the door. The doctor, sit- ting behind a table covered with instruments and glass-stoppered bottles, raised his gold spectacles and, without calling me to him, glared at me, ferociously, as I thought. Then, turning to my mother, he said : " What did you bring that miserable child here for? She is only fit to be cut up for a bunch of matches." I did not speak, but I vowed mentally that some day I would prove that I was worth far more than to be cut up for a bunch of matches. Doubtless my blood was in a very poor condition, but what there was boiled over. I refused to let my mother lead me near him. He wrote a prescription which when filled proved to be for a one-half pint bottle of medicine like watered milk with a red sediment. But I absolutely refused to take a single dose; poured it all out the first opportunity, and got well pun- ished for my spitefulness. I remember my father teaching me to write; perched up on a very high stool at his very high desk, he set me copies of large pothooks and hangers, m's, n's and u's. After I was well enough to go to school an apt- 15 \^ L p i= , ^^ ^ ^ '\ \ \ ^' U ^ 3-^ '''^ W^ ^^ \j 'X^^ 1 '>'' ^L. - lv-~v_P^ \( V. -9-D 3 5 V l.^ ^ A'\ ^- ^ ^^ --1 5 ^i 1. ^ i I A (T o;- ; ; IG iiess for learninfT and ippoatinij pootry, and a great love of history developed. I detested sewing, which we learned at school during the afternoons. Every seam had to be whipped and felled by hand. There were no sewing machines in those days. I used to wish I could dress like a Hottentot, in one garment, with holes to put my head and arms through. I never dressed my dolls; just pinned a shawl around each. When able to play I preferred rolling hoops or playing hopscotch or cat. I was a willful child, and disposed to be domineering. My inquisitiveness made me very troublesome; I was boimd to get to the bottom of every- thing that came under my observation, and it was of no use to put Buchan's Domestic ]Medicine and Aristotle's Masterpiece on a high shelf, or even to lock them up; I was bound to know what I was and whence I came. My parents were intensely religious, of the Calvinistic school, and after mastering Bible biographies and the Westminster catechism, my 11th and 12th years found me wrestling with the problems of original sin, total depravity, predestination, free will and election. Many a time, after being talked to and prayed with by my excellent mother, in conse- quence of an unusual fit of perverseness, have I stayed on my knees, by my bedside, far into the night, weeping and praj'ing to God that he would reveal to me whether I was one of his elect. For months a verse of one of the then popular hymns ran con- stantly through my brain and made life a continual anguish. It was: "'Tis a point I long to know; Oft it causes anxious thought: Do I love the Lord, or no? Am I his, or am I not ? " 17 -^ ^-^ '' "^ ^ ^ f>^ -^ ^ ' I' -. '-5 -j,;_Q> ■ ."- ^V ^ \< , \; , ^ ' - ' -^ . 4 I ^- ':^ -^^r i'u, i ^ fc....^ (^A^ : .„, _ ^ ^ ^ - V-Si. Y kj) _ L-. V^ ^ ^,r^ i> ■>: ^1,.. f.i^, h -^ l^ / *?■.,' k^.._/> '2^^fS 18 At length my mother and religious friends assured me that my anxiety on the subject was a hopeful sign; and, in my thir- teenth year, having gained much in health and strength, I en- gaged in Christian work, collecting money for the ^lissionary and Tract societies, visiting the houses of neighbors and tlie poor with tracts, and making myself a nuisance generally. Constant attendance at Sunday school, with home instruction, gave me a thorough knowledge of the Bible, so that I could repeat much of it, and I was a sort of living concordance for my friends. Sixty years ago children memorized more of the Bible and standard poetry, both at home and school, than they do now. My parents encouraged me to learn chapters and poems, and they or visitors often rewarded me with a penny or sixpence to put in the mis- sionary box when I recited something new. Even at day schools the first requirement every morning was for each pupil to repeat a verse from the Bible. These religious and ethical texts sank deep into my memory. They were, in truth, as " nails fastened in a sure place," and they frequently even now come to my mind as consolations or prompters to right action. At about thirteen I entered the famous Borough Road school. It was established on the Lancasterian plan, a prominent feature of which was to ascertain what were the special characteristics of each child, and give to it such individual training as would fit it for the business of life for which it was naturally adapted. It was soon decided that my special gift lay in imparting what I knew, so I was made " monitor " of various classes, while my- self pursuing higher instruction. After a year's attendance there, my mother's brother, Rev. Denny Ray Thomason, who had emigrated to America a few years before, and then had charge of a young ladies' academy in Pulaski, Tennessee, pleased with a letter I had written him, invited me to come to America and finish my education in his school. My health being still far from good, and physicians advising the change, my parents consented, and on August 1st, 1837, I was placed in custody of a friend and started on my 19 -^ X. L ~^ w /^ r% . ^X. - ^. tt-.r "^ ^C-"^ 'f ..:) 1^ -^"^. C^- ^, t .fl u> S -^-^ ^ ti> ^ |x S> "^ y ^, ( ^ K \ VK r ^_\ ^ ^. vk ^.. ■^ '^ / a-/ V^ Vr ^-'^ ^ 1 \ ^ ^ t-" (q.J >^^l IC/f. 20 Western journey. Steamers had not then come into general use, and it took six weeks and three days for the sailing vessel in which I was embarked to cross from London to Philadelphia. I think the ship was four days tacking up Delaware Bay after sighting Cape Henlopen. I was sea-sick during most of the voyage, and so completely emptied myself of all superfluities that none of my old complaints made a landing with me on the shores of the New World, except an hereditary rebellious stomach. This weakness has through life manifested its presence in frequent and severe headaches, until about five years ago. After landing I stayed two weeks in Philadelphia; went to the museum, won- dered at the skeleton of the saurian monster there, and had my silhouette taken; there were no photographs or even daguerreo- types made in those days. Fairmount Park enchanted me, though I most admired the big waterwheels and tried to comprehend their workings. But the city market was my delight — the fruit in such abundance — peaches as large as small apples, so ruby and golden, and I could buy two for a fip and five for a levy. A fip was a silver coin worth 6% cents and a levy one about the size of an English sixpence worth 12 1/^ cents. American currency had not become so thoroughly decimalized then as it is now. The rocking chair at our boarding-house was a luxurious curiosity. That American invention had not found its way across the water; the nearest approach to it in ordinary English homes was the low, plain mother's rocking chair, which never left the precincts of the nursery. About October 1, 1837, with Dr. Jeptha Fowlkes and family, to whose care I was committed, I left Philadelphia on the Pennsyl- vania Railroad for Pittsburg. It was not then completed, for we had to go about seven miles by stage near the middle of Penn- sylvania. At Pittsburg we took boat. The Ohio was very low and soon the boat stuck fast. We went in a skiff four miles down the river and boarded another boat. That stuck also. 21 >: >> / : ' .^, ^ V I \S-\ y, 1 ■"1 "^ rs" ^ ^ Ur /^ ^ ^ ^ \^^^^:r^^^-^^ ") ^ ^ ^^ s(x: 7 ,' = "ipv^-lV-/'' L l-C . ^ CrX \Jv^ a ' .— ^ , )lj 1. ' i "-■ /^ a ^ v^ /:A^\ ^' u ■g_D W^ ? i" ^, C ^; . (Cx C^Ll-"^ \,,.r..^....A ^ ^ :.YL. " ^^ ^ We got on a third which arrived at Cincinnati, and I remember that the boat tied up for the night and our party went to church, as it was Sunday. Arriving at Sniithkmd, at the mouth of the Cumberland River, the Fowlkes family left me all alone in wide America, they being bound for Memphis and I for Nashville. I had to wait three days for the Nashville boat. Sunday night, a week after we had left Cincinnati, I started up the Cumberland, but about half way the " Bolivar " grounded and we had to wait for a smaller boat. An Episcopal Convention was being held in Nashville when we reached that place, and the one hotel was crowded; a pallet in the parlor was the only accommodation to be had. Mosquitoes filled the room, but being very tired I slept. In the morning my hands and face were a sight to behold — swelled and looking as though I had the erysipelas. I had no private room and could not go to the dining table, so had to sit in a corner and hide my face the best I could. The stage w^ent from Nashville to Pulaski but twice a week, and I had to wait three days; but some kind ladies managed to get me under a mosquito net the remaining nights. At length, after two days of stage travel, I reached Pulaski and my tedious journey was ended. I remained in Pulaski a year or two, attending school, and then took a position as assistant teacher at the town of Salem, in Northern Mississippi. The Choctaw Indians had emigrated but two years before from that neighborhood to the Indian Ter- ritory. The succeeding five years were passed in teaching in schools or in private families of the planters in Mississippi and West Tennessee. In December, 1844, at the age of twenty-one, I married Allan Jones, of Hardeman Co., Tennessee. During this year my parents came to America. Our family consisted of three sons and two daughters. I was the oldest and my sister, then four years old, the youngest. Allan Jones' father was a cotton planter; not rich, but well- to-do in lands and slaves. On our maniage he promised 23 V, "^ "- e= IM. :z^ L ^_ V ■^ - ^ \ . - L -=:\3. 1, ,^^ .-^. „ i V \- ^(^ T^ ^t,' i,^-» A45' "?" „ L S.-j'^ ' ^, __- ,^ 4, ..zs ^ > „^^ \\ -^i^ , V-^ ». _ U .>/- ^ ^ «/.\V ^A_ .^-^ fu^,...h. , . ^ ^..zi::i...r^.. ^ . (^ x^. 24 my husband a piece of land with a house on it; but it was not habitable, and as Allan was barely of age and had noth- ing of his own, he engaged to oversee his father's plantation ; we living with the old folks and three young daughters, and I con- tinuing to teach the neighborhood school. On the 5th of Novem- ber, 1845, my Fannie was born; on the 7th of December my husband died. No provision had been made for me and the babe; for Allan owned nothing; so I took possession of a log ( abin offered me by a neighbor, and with my babe, father, mother and little sister recommenced the work of teaching. The next year my noble and devoted mother died. My brothers had found business in Memphis. In 1847 I became principal of the female academy at Bolivar, Tenn., and married Rev. John B. Burns in January of the same year. In 1845 a notice of the invention of Phonography, given in the Phrenological Journal, had attracted my attention. In a short paragraph the principal features of the new system were given: the ignoring of the common spelling, the separating of each word into its elementary sounds and the assigning of a particular geometrical sign, simple in form and made with a single motion of the hand, to represent each elementary sound of the spoken word. As I read, the whole plan in its wonderful simplicity and beauty unfolded before my mental vision. I saw that words written in Phonogiaphy would form, as it were, an exact daguerreotype of the spoken language. I saw also, as by a lightning flash, the marvelous results which would flow from such a representation of thought, when it should become the general medium of com- munication. I perceived the numerous and still greater bless- ings which would come to all future generations, when the truth, as it is in phonetic science, should be made the basis of language teaching. I recognized that phonography exemplified a prin- ciple worth the teacher's living and working for; the only royal road to language learning. I wrote for further information 25 t 1. I V \ > A A b Qs V -^^' V^'h-^l'^^ 4 1 : i^A^.l, ™ /^ jr^. L \ X . \ c^ rr-^^j J ^ >— J-JC. J ' ^ \) f "71- '^■■'■' ^ '^ "^ / ^ l,_^ 1.-.X vV\ I t^ 7 V ^- -( o ^ ^ . y^a ^ v;^- / ^ "" "h c-^ ^ ■■-■ ^i^ "^ -^ V ^ A^-^'') L lb - 28 medicine, or practising as a physician, or as a phonofirapliic re- porter. After the war lie was one of the first to reproduce pic- tures by the actinic, or what is known as " the gelatine process."' After coming to New York lie was engaged in illustrating Frank Leslie's publications. But experiments cost money, and in IS.iO we had none. So in the spring we returned to Cincinnati and, soon after, my daughter, Fonetta, was born. I obtained a position in the public schools, and Mr. Burns studied at the Eclectic Medi- cal College, doing shorthand work for the professors. Having no color prejudice, I obtained a transfer from Principal Hand's School to the position of principal of the colored school, which afi'orded me a larger salary — $25 a month. But I remember that in those days I could buy a fore-quarter of mutton for 25 cents. It was at this period that Mrs. Amelia Bloomer promulgated her idea of Dress Reform. With other w^omen who desired release from the thraldom of tight waists and long skirts. I assumed the Bloomer costume, which resembled that now worn by lady bicyclers or gymnasts, though the trousers came down to the shoe tops. For a short time I wore it on the street. Once ^Ir. Burns and myself were met by Dr. Joseph R. Buchanan, dean of the Eclectic College. Next day he sent me a bound copy of his " Journal of INIan," inscribed with his name, and with it his respects for my good stnse and courage in wearing a hygienic dress. During the summer the dress reform ladies arranged a picnic, which was held beyond Walnut Hills, then not so thickly populated as it is now. But the annoyance to which the dress subjected us on the street, and the fact that it hindered those who wore it from pursuing successfully any other professional or reformatory work, compelled its discontinuance in public; though as a house and garden dress I, with many other women the country over, More it for years, to our great benefit 29 7 \ .ii ^^-j-J^ V.' I"' .' ^^ "-^^. ^ r "^ ^ ?ftj,^, <^-:i, :. ■■^ti' ^ '^/ V. « ''^— , /" \ , ^ / ^ " i) — CT >'^ r ;' ' ^ Lj ^1 ^i >;... 1* Vx V ^ .■> and oiijoyinont. It is the dress of lightness and freedom, and when frequently seen it no longer strikes the eye as being ugly. In 1851-2 the discussions about the emendations and additions to Phonography proposed by Isaac Pitman and other phonog- raphers were going on. I was one of the Council, but was more interested in the production of Phonotypic books and a settle- ment of the Phonotypic Alphabet. Mr. Elias Longley had begun the issue of Primers and Readers for children. I wrote a serial story entitled " Childhood Hours," for the Phonetic Advocate. The story was afterwards published in book form, and a copy is in my library. About 1853 my husband received his M.D. diploma, and we went to Camden, Miss., where he began the prac- tice of medicine, and I opened a school. In September my son Ellis Mas bom and. May loth, 1855, my son Channing appeared. Soon after Dr. Burns removed to the vicinity of Livingston, Sumter County, Ala., where we began the making of a home in the woods. During our four years' residence there I taught school at two places, and once attended a teachers' convention, where I gave an address on Phonetics. Dr. Burns's father dying, he was called to Tennessee to settle up the estate, and for a year I was alone with the four children and an old colored man, superintend- ing the farming and teaching school. In the fall of 18G0 Dr. Burns took us to Tennessee, where we lived during the first years of the war; Dr. Burns being absent in the army. After the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was appointed surgeon of the Third Kentucky Union Volunteers, and went with the army to Atlanta. My home in Tennessee was on a road much traveled by the soldiers, and I had the questionable pleasure of twice sitting up half the night baking bread; in 1861 for a Confederate regiment, and in 1862 for LTnion soldiers, after West Tennessee had fallen into the hands of the United States troops. In both cases, however, they paid me generously for my trouble. But what a time I had to keep the men from taking the bread ■from the skillets and ovens before it was baked. A gang would bring wood and pile it by the chimney, and claim the 31 9 _ t ^'S'- f^^— r^/^' V }i;'S i_ -n "^ ^ '.i '-- v?>. /^ ■x K.\..^^.«: ^-^ ? ^ v^^^^- -Ip^ /^ ^ ^^ \ i. ^^f' ^ -^ A, -' .^ -^ '" ' i = ^ :i..^ ..1.-1- ^^A_:.L^-,.<:^^»^ r , y.h^':^, % ^ 'r , *- , ^ \^A-^--- --i" "^^ -^- ,,^._!.J ,:^ ^ *- ^ ^^ ^ -> y ' X .... c~i> ^x " ^ ^ ^, f . ..rv^' -^ X t;3 ..^ £r:a- S .^--L.:. V. / .// ^", ^'i- 't vf ^^ p, \ 34 How the npfjroos did flock in! Both soxos, all ages, all gi-ades of color from cream to ebony — they seemed possessed by a mania to learn to read. Prof. John Ogden was principal, and Mr. Cra- vath general supervisor. I obtained a position in a primary de- partment (though all were really primary), and by much entreaty succeeded in keeping a part of my piipils long enough to demon- strate what phonetic teaching would do. For the influx of utter ignorance was so continuous that about every two or three weeks children who had progressed a little were advaneec". to a higlier department. It was necessary that children should remain in my classes for at least three months in order to read intelligibly. At the end of that time they could go on the platform and read imderstandingly from the Fonetic Second Reader or Gospel of John. To do this in the ordinary way of teaching was the work of more than a year. It Avas during this work at Nashville that I experienced one of the greatest sorrows of my life, in the death of my son, Ellis, then nearly fourteen. Cholera prevailed in the city in 1SG7, and just before its appearance Ellis fell a victim to dysentery. The next year I returned to Cincinnati, and opened a school for teach- ing phonography in the Carlisle Building, where Mr. Benn Pit- man's oflice was, and ho sent me such persons as applied to him for instruction. (I here regret that I cannot give a full statement of my own work, and the motives that have actuated me in doing it, with- out mentioning the names of others whose lines of activity have been more or less interwoven with mine. In referring to Mr. IMunson only kind feelings pervade the narrative, and no one recognizes more than my self the value of his phonographic work. But I must recount details as they occurred.) In the fall of 1868 Mr. Munson sent me a copy of his "Com- plete Phonographer " for examination. Most carefully did I con the book, noting the differences between it and the Pit- man system. I soon saw the great simplification that had 35 3(5 been effected, and tried tlie new method with the next pupil. Before proceeding far in the textbook I was distressed by the jiwkwardness of liaving the phonographic lessons so far from the type pages whicli explained tlie principles, and I wrote Mr. Munson that though the changes made had greatly simplified the art and made it more easy to learn, yet the miserable ar- rangement of the textbook would preclude my adopting his method, unless a better textbook, and one with easier reading lessons for beginners, was brought out. He replied that he con- templated getting out a book of easy reading lessons, so soon as he could find a satisfactory way of producing phonographic engraving. In January, 1SG9, Dr. Burns went to New York, and I followed in June. On seeing Mr. ]\Iunson I arranged to assist in transcribing his court notes, which were written very plainly. Mr. A. Crum — I think that was the name — had a class in IMunson shorthand at the Mercantile Library, of which A. M. Palmer was then manager. The classes were transferred to me, and for three years they were carried on under my instruction. I found the need of simple reading lessons very great, and so, with much labor, wrote extra lessons in Munson's shorthand for my pupils. Dr. Burns soon invented a metiiod by which shorthand engraving could be satisfactorily done and at a small expense. Mr. INIunson was offered the invention at a low cost, but refused to purchase it. We began the publication of the American Journal of Phoiior;- raphij, and also a series of lessons in Munson's shorthand, each lesson being approved by Mr. Munson before it was issued. At last a small book was made, entitled " Reading Lessons in Steno- Phonography, in Accordance with Munson's Complete Phonog- rapher." This reader was joyfully hailed by friends of the new system, among them Mr. Ormsby (the court reporter), whose son, William, was one of my pupils. 37 448571 1 - \ Ca YT_ v^ p". K. H,:, -.--,:^ /,.i-^ S" (.V? I ^ T^'.^ .^ ^, )( ^ t^U^ N ^ ^ «- C .- -^. .' >,«-!__ <^ . \ r 38 Some time previous I\Ir. Haney, a publisher, had, with Mr. Mun- son's consent, and, perhaps autliorship, set forth the leading prin- ciples of the Munson system in a paper-covercu pamphlet, and, as my classes were large, and the " Complete Phonographer " unsuited to the pupils, from its size, cost and the poor arrange- ment of the shorthand pages, 1 purchased a number of these pam- phlets from Mr. Haney, and made shorthand plates to accord with its instructions and illustrative printed words. The pamphlets were torn apart, and the shorthand pages put opposite the printed keyes, then the whole was rebound, together with the reading lessons formerly mentioned. The little book was entitled " The Self-Instructor in Steno-Phonography," and stated that it was an introduction to " Munson's Complete Phonographer." This com- pilation of two small works., which had received Mr. Munson's approval, was done with no other view than to facilitate the teaching of my large classes, and to spread abroad a knowledge of what I believed to be the best system of shorthand. But Mr. Munson felt injured by the publication of the little work, and brought suit against me. I employed legal advice. The case was heard. The jiidge confessed himself nonplussed — never had just such a case before him before; thought it should be fully argued before a jury, and granted the plaintiff a temporary injunction against the sale of the book. Of course it has not been sold since the injunction, but copies are sent free for phonographic libraries to persons who send me five cents for postage. Having no more sums of fifty dollars to pay lawyers, I took no further notice of the suit, and it is still hanging by its ears, as did that between Benn Pitman and A. J. Graham until the latter's death. Soon I began to publish lessons serially in the American Journal of Phonography, as a basis for an independent textbook. For the purpose of avoiding the use of expedients which had been original with the author of the " Complete Phonographer," I read up past phonographic literature and interviewed our oldest reporters, notably Messrs, Parkhurst, Underbill, and Wilbour. I was assured that with the excep- tion of the large Initial-hook on straight stems to denote the sound of " y," there was no device or piece of material 39 ^ , ^^ ^x C . -^ l^ u "U ^ "^ L^ ^ 3 ^,c ^ ) t ^ ./^ ^ ^ ^rr, i_ ^ ^r-V" B : ^ ^ 1.- -^^ crr^ I- ^ ZI&. Sji^ K o^ X ^ c^ \ A^' 4U that had not been used by stenographers previous to tlie ad- vent of the Munson arrangement. Thus the way was clear, and circumstances compelled me to do what I really desired, namely, to bring out a textbook to suit my needs in teach- ing. Three years of giving instruction in the Munson system had forced on my attention a degree of illegibility in it, which was caused by the smooth, monotonous outlines, formed mainly of stems, and unbroken by the smaller adjunctive signs em- ployed in Pitman shorthand, either independently or as con- nectives. I was dissatisfied also with the needless labor of memo- rizing word-signs written out of position, and I already had copious notes and lessons prepared to remedy these defects. From thenceforth, therefore, all my new pupils were instructed by a course of serially published lessons, which, when completed, were presented in one volume under the name of " Burns' Phonic Shorthand." The venture of constructing a distinctive method of phonog- raphy was a bold one, and as I look back I wonder at my temer- ity. But I just felt that phonographic writing could be made more certain and legible, and the labor of learning it greatly lessened, therefore duty to my pupils required an effort in those directions. Greater legibility was secured by the invention of the In-hook and Second Shun-hook, and a more extended use of the Initial Vowel tick; also by stricter observance of the Rule of Position, with explicit directions for the formation of outlines, so that the presence or absence of a vowel in a certain place should be indicated, and by more definite rules for contractions and phras- ing. Facility in learning the art was gained by plainer rules and fewer of them, with a simple way of writing vowel signs. With Phonic Shorthand as a basis for teaching, my work be- came a constant source of delight. 41 ..V^^^A c\~^. ^vl IX 3 . r ._ ^,[i"^~ ^., ^ _, r ^:— "^A. r-^x "-2 \ \ ":, ^ ' i. . Y X "" " < '^ 1 .~T",. u t -^ ^ ' ■■ ' ■" '--'^ <}■ > :a. __^^^/-'^ t,..x-.... QjT^ i J c^,^ ^^^i >^ c. i- o 42 The student's patli was now a well graded ascent, void of either precipices or pitfalls. To this personal satisfaction in teaching has been added the approval of my brother stenographers and the public; and the united testimony of employers who have my graduates for amanuenses, " Burnz' writers can read their notes," has been to nie a rich reward. In 1872 I opened the New York School of Phonography, at 33 Park Row, for giving regular private instruction. The first graduate of the institution, after " Burnz' Phonic Shorthand " was exclusively taught in it, was Mr. Charles A. Jlorrison, whose career as a competent and successful stenographic law and lec- ture reporter is well known. The introduction of Phonography as a legular branch of study into the public schools had for many years been a subject of deep consideration with me, and during the spring of 1869, just before coming to New York, I visited the public schools of Cin- cinnati, and obtained the signatures of nearly every principal and vice-principal to a petition addressed to the Board of Edu- cation, that Phonography might be placed on the list of studies. The proposition was rejected on the ground that Phonography was a technical study, leading to a definite profession. I argued that the teaching of drawing and music might be prohibited on the same grounds. After coming to New York I called on Mr. Thomas Hunter, President of the Normal College, then located on Fourth Street, to propose that Phonography should be taught to the girls preparing to become teachers, so that its elementary principles might be taught in the public schools without addi- tional expense for special teachers. Mr. Hunter replied with ex- pressions of cordial approbation, saying that he had already deter- mined that, so soon as the Normal was transferred to its new build- ing on Sixty-ninth Street, Phonography should be placed upon the curriculum of studies. In 1873, when the Normal College had become well settled in its new home, I called on Mr. Hunter 43 T ■v i , ^ t iih. , ^ 1 ^- ^.^i.\ < i^ -^ • ^ -^..^-->i ^--^ " / . ^ ^ ^iT "^ , ^-. V ■>, ,. ^ I V- i>- ^^^"'<.>'l^-^-,1- ,0 ^'^k.^Vu|M.,'^<>V: \/ V ■ ^ V v-.-i'^ ^— ^ 44 again. He said it was time that the subject received attention, and asked me how phonography could be taught so as not to interfere with the present studies. I otiered to teach a free trial class on Saturdays. He approved the plan and asked me to write for the trustees a report of the advantages that might be ex- pected to follow the teaching of phonograj)hy in the college and schools. I made the report and it was published in the l^chool Journal. Not hearing from Mr. Hunter, I went to see him again, and he said the trustees had approved the plan of a Saturday class, but thought it best that a man, one who Avas a skilled reporter, should instruct it. When the day for beginning the class arrived the large room was packed with young women eager to learn phonography. It was estimated that three luuulred were present. A large, handsome green or brown bound textbook was supplied to each would-be student, and a large, handsome man, Mr. Munson, the author, proceeded to explain. It has always been a mystery to the uninitiated why there was no crowd of students at the second meeting and that on the third the class dissolved. So far as I have been able to ascertain no further teaching of phonography has been attempted at the Normal Col- lege. Now, I was not present on the above-mentioned Saturdays, but a college girl, who was exceedingly anxious to learn the art, gave me her experience. For the use of my classes I arranged a large chart, on which were the phonographic stems in geometrical order. I had in view the using of these charts in the public schools for the purpose of teaching from them the nidimentary principles of drawing — namely, exact straight lines and curves — at the same time that the pupils were learning the principles of phonography. A full eight vowel scale was also presented on the charts, by which the vowel sounds could be sung to the eight notes of music. This scale agreed exactly with the vowels as then taught in some of the schools, in which instniction was given by means of primers printed in Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography. I had a hearing before the Book Committee of the Board of Education, and my charts were placed on the list of supplies. But, a short time after, the book publishers, who do not desire phonetic print taught in the 45 V r ^\ II '^"^ y'~^ V ■ ^ r i^^ > \- <=-b V ^ * ^_ ''. y^ ^ V, -r^ -A/i i ^^ 4tj schools, procured Leigh's book to be discontimied, and my charts also were removed from the supply list. The Trustees of Grammar School 24, on Kim Street, with Miss McCosker, the principal, were desirous that a trial class of the hialiest grade girls should be instructed in phonography, and arrangements were made by which a number met me for an hour twice a week after dismissal. But the Board of Education de- cided that such use of any public school building was unlawful, and the class was discontinued. My arrival in New York, from Cincinnati, was in 180!). In 1870 there were not half a dozen Avomen doing stenographic work in New York City. To-day woman amanuenses count l)y the hundreds. But as yet there is only one lady officially employed as stenographer in a court of law, namely, Mrs. Clara Iv Brock- way, of the United States Admiralty Courts, of New York and Brooklyn. !Mrs. Brockway began the study of Phonic Shorthand with me in December, 1876. Early in 1871, perceiving that the field of shorthand ofl'ered superior inducements to women, I obtained an interview with Mr. Peter Cooper, and endeavored to interest him and the trus- tees of the Cooper Union in the work of (jualifying women to become stenographic amanuenses. My proposal was that the trus- tees should establish a free class in connection with the Cooper Institute, for the thorougli instruction of women in phonography. The question was referred by the trustees to a committee, one member, at least, being a lawyer. On receiving the report of the committee, the trustees replied in the negative to the proposal, giving as their reasons: " First — That the art itself was difficult and complicated, re- quiring a long period of study and practice to use it successfully. Second — That the places where shorthand was practised were not suitable for the presence of women; and, Third — That the 47 ,.•). \ t ' ^^ "^ ^.-^^^ ^ ^^-^ ^ L -1^...^,^^^. •••- — / ^ J vL^ X . ^-^ •"\'\ ^ n^ ht-^' 6 <^^^ s<.. \ ^ , /^ a.n. "^ '^^ ' ^ ' .\.. , V ^ ^ \^ - 4 48 business of shorthand reporting was a very limited one, and already fully occupied by competent practitioners of it." Feeling assured, from a personal knowledge of the phonographic field and the workers therein, that these gentlemen had obtained but a very dim light on the subject, I solicited some -well-known stenographers, lawyers and editors who had eniploj'ed lady short- hand amanuenses to give their views on the subject. In response, a number of letters were sent me, with permission to use them in aid of the phonographic cause. Among the writers were Mr. C. C. Hine, editor of the Insurance Monitor; Mr. Thomas D. Stetson, solicitor of patents: and stenographers Parkhurst, Underbill, De- vine and Robert Bonynge. The replies of these gentlemen all were to prove that they considered the business of shorthand both a suitable and promising one for women. Their united opinions were well expressed by Mr. Hine, whose letter is worth publish- ing, because it shows his acute prevision of the need that was then arising in business circles for shorthand amanuenses. " Office of the Insurance Monitor, 178 Broadway, Xew York, July 21, 1871. Mrs. E. B. Burxz: Dear Madam: In response to your inquiries about my experi- ence with lady stenographers, I have to state that, so far as it has extended, it has been one of unqualified satisfaction. I have employed stenographic assistance for over six years, but the num- ber of persons whose services I have enjoyed has been only three, the last one a lady. Concerning her I am free to say that she is not only the most expert shorthand, but the best longhand writer I have had, receiving my dictation for correspondence and 49 ^ V ( .]^ C. "^ ^ \ ( a_. X ""^^^^ >j -Y^^ ^ " -^ "^ ^ °^ "~^ ^ r 50 editorials with entire accuracy, and transcriliing tlieni in a business-like manner. In regard to the field that may be occupied by women in tliis vocation, I believe it to l)e wide, but it has as yet hardly been opened by or for either sex. Stenography we have been accustomed to regard as an unusual and expensive aid. So soon as it can be obtained as readily and at about the same cost as ordinary clerical and bookkeeping ser- vice, I see no reason why it should not be extensively adopted. To me it has become a right hand. To dispense with it would involve a reorganization of my whole business routine. As to its suitableness for women, I can conceive of no more fitting occupation. There are doubtless distasteful and imprac- tical places where shorthand reporters are often employed, but men can retain the monopoly of them, as now, unless women whose tastes and activities lead them in a similar direction choose to compete for them. It is a grand mistake to suppose that the courts or newspaper staflFs furnish the only avenue of employment for shorthand writers. The banks, the insurance offices, the law offices, the editorial rooms, the railroad offices, and all those places where large correspondence is conducted or original documents are prepared, are actually waiting and groan- ing for the advent of just such a labor-saving device as stenog- raphy. I can think of nothing more desirable than for a lawj^er or an editor to be freed from his pen and, while searching his books or exchanges, to be able to dictate aloud, as he reads or thinks, the matter which he wishes inscribed; or for an over- worked cashier or secretary, with his immense correspondence, which no one can answer but himself, to be able to res])ond with the rapidity of speech, and have his letters worded as he wants them. This and similar labor seems to me to be eminently suited to women, and my experience makes me lU'ge you to enlarge 51 -? v_(7 ^ r^n -y-^ ,.).) J. '...X . ^ ^ i c -" ^^-^i^.^-^ , ^ / ^Jlj « J U J I, y.h ^{^\L. ^ ^, \ 1 >/. r a n —y^x f ^ — "^ ^ n X '^ ^~<\°-z, ^ -"X .r^/^ ^ \_- f -!> ^ '^ ) "^- MX. ^^ 4 your efforts in sending out accomplished lady stenographers. Yours trul}', C. C. HiNE." Fortified with these letters, the writer again sought an interview with Mr. Cooper. He became much interested in the matter, as did also the curator in the Cooper Union, Dr. Zachos, who in former years had been an earnest advocate of phonetiL- spelling, and publisher of phonetic books for use among the freedmen and illiterates generally. The result was that Mr. Cooper agreed to furnish a room, rent free, if the teacher would give the tuition free. An experimental class of women was organized, which began in July, 1872. Twenty lessons were given, after which, as the room assigned contained no tables or desks for writing, the pupils were formed into an advanced class, Avhich met in another place. Late in the year another class of ladies was formed at the Cooper Union, with the hope that good success in an experimental class might lead the directors to furnish a suitable room, and arrange for continued instruction, so as to produce competent amanuenses. Notice of this second class was made in the New York School Journal, of February, 1873. In accordance with the suggestion of Dr. Zachos, a petition was drawn up and was signed by the members of the second and also by many of the first Cooper Union fi-ee class in phonog- raphy, asking that the art should be made one of the studies of the scholastic year. Another elementary class was taught during the spring and summer of 1873, the ladies of which united in a petition similar to the one above. At least one hundred and twenty ladies attended these classes. The directors, however, declined to grant the prayer of the petitioners, and for the sake of extending the usefulness of the classes, the next one, begun in the fall of 1873, 53 .^ ^_i.!. •J y y ^ '^ ^ ^ ?^ 1 '^ e) , ^/ p ^ ? % ^ V- p 9 — ^ 7 ^ I^..^^....^H i ^_^']) X rn // a) or I , ^ ^ n. "i •- ^^-^f-A^ ____j^.x - ^ ../...i'... i was taught in the evening, and opened for men as well as for women. The conditions remained unchanged; Mr. Cooper gave tlie free use of the room, and 1 gave the instruction free. Usually two courses of lessons were given each year, one in the fall and the other in the spring, each course of twelve lessons completing the instruction given at the Union. The classes were very largely attended ; during some sessions the room, which seated one hun- dred and thirty persons, was inadequate to accommodate all who applied for admission. After the free course of instruction Avas ended many pupils continued the study from the textbook alone, while others took advanced lessons. D. W. Craig, assistant stenographer at Police Headquarters, New York; Charles Wimmer, law and lecture reporter, Produce Exchange, New^ York; Peter P. McLoughlin, Court of General Sessions, New York; J. N. B. Rawle, Justice's Court, Brooklyn, and many others, who are now expert stenog- raphers, were members of Cooper Union classes. Mr. Cooper him- self gave the following testimony: " I have received many letters from pupils who have attended the phonographic classes taught by Mrs. Burns, at the Cooper Union, all of which express a high appreciation of the instruction given. One lady writes me that through the lessons here received, and subsequent practice, slie was enabled to go into the courts at San Francisco and take notes and earn a livelihood for herself and husband, the latter having failed in business. I think the art of stenogi-aphy should be generally learned and taught in our schools. Peter Cooper." In the fall of 1883 the trustees of Cooper Union decided to open, in connection with the institution, a free day class for the thor- ough instruction of women from sixteen to twenty-five years of age in shorthand and typewriting. Miss Frances E. Parrish, a member of my first Cooper Union class, was appointed teacher, and many of the best amanuenses of this city owe their efficiency 55 ■^■^ ^ i 1— - --- --- !r I j<..._ ^.. K ^ >^..l..../...'^"l "z " ^^^^^^..,...^ y^ ^- IT" • ^ ^- - r--^ OjuAmA >i. .„ ™_ , _..., ^> ^ ni^ ^->f,^ ^ ^^ J :> ^"^-^ _ ^. ^. ^ V ^ ' *^- ^ X %-^/ ^ v| =^. v.. ^^>U] ^_^ ../ji?.. '"^ 5G to her faithful and enthusiastic training. The free evening classes at Cooper Union were continued until 1887, when the Board of Education decided to have phonography- taught in the senior evening schools. Miss Parrish opened the first class, which was taught in the Houston Street School. " Burnz' Phonic Shorthand " being chosen as the textbook for this and other schools, I discontinued the free classes at Cooper Union. In January, 1875, Dr. Burns passed away from this life, and in 1876 my son Channing and myself formed a partnership for publishing. We then changed " s " to " z " in our names, and made the firm name " Burnz & Co." The individual members of our families all spell the name " Burnz." In 1879 I took charge of the free class in stenography for women, opened by the directors of the Young Women's Christian Association at No. 7 East Fifteenth Street. In 1885, on the com- pletion of their new building, the applicants for tuition had be- come so numerous that it was decided to form a second class, which was put under the charge of Miss Louise E. Conklin, who had learned phonic shorthand of Miss Parrish. In 1890 I resigned my position as teacher at the Young Women's Christian Associ- ation, and Miss Agnes Beiderhase, who had graduated in short- hand at the New York School of Phonography, and been a suc- cessful school teacher in New Jersey, was appointed my successor in the first class. In reference to these Young Women's Christian Association Stenographic Classes, it is only right to say that a strict exami- nation in the elementary branches of education is given to those who apply for admission. Exercises which test ability in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, the proper use of words, facility in ordinary letter writing, etc., are given to the applicants, and only 57 y ^^ V- '^"^ ^- - ^ ^ i ^-i^ ^W-^. ^\.-^. ^f ci_D in.' "T^ 5,v ^ /^.^ - ., '^ ^ i^ i. _ Ct-^ r^... ( ' ^-^ ' ^ ^^^^^p Vvf?^ ^ ^|,.V^J\_ those who reach a certain per cent, are admitted to the pliono- graphic chisses. For this reason, and because of the thorouijhnesa of the shorthand instruction, which lasts for eight months, the graduates of the Young Women's Christian Asociation are always in denuind. I resigned the position of teacher at the Young Women's Chris- tian Association in consequence of a desire to engage more un- interruptedly in literary work. The idea of spelling reform had possessed me from the first hour that I learned of the phonetic principle. Since 1846 I had worked for its advancement at every opportunity. On the basis of " a single letter for a single sound," I and hundreds of other phoneticians had laboi'ed for many years with tongue and pen to bring before the public the great advan- tage wliich would flow to all classes from bringing English or- thography to rule and reason, liut the queer appearance of a purely phonetic print and script, arising from the newly shaped letters, rendered all efforts at reform in this direction abortive. A phonetic alphabet, formed without new letters, was projected by several persons. Hon. Joseph Medill, in a letter which reached me just as I was starting South for my work among the negroes, first urged on my attention the expediency of adding diacritically marked letters and diagraphs to inciease the alphabet to forty letters. Rev. D. P. Lindsley, in 1874,, began advocating, as an initial step to reform, the bringing of the worst anomalies of English spelling to rule. In 1875 the American Philological So- ciety, which first came into being in 1868, was reorganized, and held frequent meetings in Cooper Union, at which the question of how to bring about a revision of English spelling was promi- nent. Stephen Pearl Andrews presented a scheme which he named an " English Standard Phonetic Alphabet." He added the requi- site number of letters to the Roman alphabet by consonant di- graphs, and placing inverted periods before or after the five letters 59 .Jl^ih,^. ' ' "Of /. \ X J ^. ) ^ - ? K ^_xr-{^ V y.v-c. ^ / 1 1—} J _. ^l ^±^«.-^-^:: .^A .,.„l ^ >,i^. -t5" t 4. C ^^.^1^.. ^,,,,,.^^,l.lfe..''. ^Ij^Z ..-^^ ^:rl k!. - X 60 a, e, i, o, u, to denote the long vowel sounds. I carried out the same idea of doing without new letters by presenting the " Anglo- American Alphabet," which had been explained, illustrated and named in the Nashville Banner while I was on a visit to Nash- ville a few months previous. Mr. AndrcAvs and myself had printed copies made of our respective alphabets. Mrs. D. L. Scott-Brown presented an ingeniously contrived alphabet on the " single letter for a sound " basis, which in consequence of the new type required could not be printed. The meetings were animated and intensely interesting, were often numerously attended, and, in connection with the earlier work of the society, doubtless tended to create that public sentiment which expressed itself during the Centennial at Philadelphia, and led to the formation of the Spelling Reform Association. The American Philological Society should not be confounded with the American Philological Association, which took the last part of its name to avoid conflict with the " Society," which had been incorporated at a prior date to its own organ- ization. In 1876, at Pliiladelphia, I met with the delegates to the Inter- national Convention of Spelling Reformers from various parts of this and foreign countries. Schemes and alphabets abounded. The plan of ]\Ir. E. Jones, of Liverpool, England, coincided very nearly with the one that I devised, and thinking the name " Anglo-American " appropriate to the coalesced alphabet, we agreed to so name it. We were for several years among the vice- presidents of the Spelling Reform Association, and with the late Alexander John Ellis, so distinguished as the co-laborer with Mr. Isaac Pitman in the early work for spelling reform in England, we opposed the proposition of the philological members that the English vowel letters should be assigned to express the values those letters have in foreign languages, namely, that " e " should be sounded as " a," " i " sounded as " e," etc. We were averse to it for the reason that we believed such a change from native English and American habit would retard the advance of spelling reform. 61 - ^\\' V. ^ 1 J - V. 1,.(L I ^', Z",...^ V ^ '^.' L^- vh^^ \ v-^-*^-? ^ v" ^> J -^i^ : ^^^.^..z. \^ ^ X 62 In 1877 I published the " Anglo-American Primer " for facili- tating the teaching of reading, and sent packages of the books out to the Indian missionary schools in the West, with what efiect I never heard. In 1878 the " Spelling Reformer," in Anglo- American print, modified by the admission of some diacritically marked letters, was published from January to December, twelve numbers. Readers of the Phonographic Wobld had sufficient experi- ence in perusing its spelling reform department during 1890-91 to judge the merits of the Anglo-American print. The criticisms made upon it showed that the majority of people, even stenog- raphers, had but a meager understanding of the phonetics of the language, and that little would be done in practical emendation of orthography until a generation of teachers and pupils had been accustomed to daily drill on elementary sounds, so that any spoken word could be as unhesitatingly resolved into its sound elements as a written or printed word is into its letter elements. Phonetic print, with changed spelling, continued to be rejected by the schools, although such print had been proved hundreds of times to be the quickest and surest guide to an acquaintance with common print. William T. Harris, Commissioner of Education, had often testified to this fact, notably in " Circular of Informa- tion, No. 8, 1893," issued by the Bureau of Education at Washing- ton. I taught my own four children successively to read from the phonetic primer and readers of E. Longley and Benn Pitman, and they transferred thcnisclves to the common print of ordinary juvenile books. Every child read so well in entering new schools as to excite astonishment in the teacher, and all spelled better than is usual with children much older. It seemed to me, there- fore that the common print must he made phonetic; thorough drill on sounds being enforced on teachers and pupils by specially pre- pared elementary books, while yet the ordinaiy spelling remained unchanged. I set myself to solve the problem, and did so by the invention of " Burnz Pronouncing Print." In this new print the or- 63 r rX ^' 4 t^' , 'S< /^ -::^: t ^ C. k ^. ^Cl _.i5,.l. j> ^ ....!',..LA.i..v,l^ ^----^< ^-^-- ^ ^ l^ t^ . \s f = L-^-'U^..^.'>^ 5 ')(^.„,>-- X,. ri»^ ^ \^^^ L,-l .^ ^ ^ ^ \ X ^ ^ , ^ V _,,_A. . V ' ^ "- It " ■■ ^^ '^ ^ .'X.-^ -^ '•'U y -\: A t) f~/ \ ' r ^ -^ V(^ -} \^-^ \_^(^-^~y^ ' C^ K 64 dinary vowel letters, a, e, i, o, u, unmarked, denote the short vowel sounds, as in at, ebb, in, on, up, these being the vowel sounds most frequently used in speech. The long vowel sounds are denoted by vowel letters having diacritic marks attached, as in Webster's Dictionary. Silent letters are printed with very light line type. A letter which indicates a wrong sound has a very small letter underneath it wliich indicates the desired sound. The following cut illustrates the plan: BURNZ' PRONOUNCma PRINT. No New Letteks, or Change of Spelling. Tills new print is offered to tiie educa- tional world for tiie purpose of effecting two desirable results : First, to enable children and illiterate adults to acquire a knowledge of Eiiglisii reading in a shorter time tiian is now possible by means of ordinary primers or readers ; second, to bring about a more general and thorough knowledge of the elemen- tary sounds of our language. With these objects in view, this Pro- nouncing Primer — the first of its kind — is published; and the hope is enter- tained that, soon, other educational works will appear, based on this simple plan for securing, in a short time, the ability to read easily and pronounce correctly. 63 -^..i..:" ^ "^ ^ °Yi c_. .^^^">^ I -...^ '^^ \^ ' ^ ^,:.i.Q^<^ ^^^ 1 s ^ ^— ^>t^-\ ^ ' /^- -U-^ ^ ^^^ ^-^^ c-5- V L^ ^ V 4. W^ - _ ^ ■"^' \} - \c \ f ^ _/--^ ^ -- — -^ N:^ , "^ "I " " " y '"^ ■ A i^ <^ i-_^..x r:VV3 ' '2- i ., " i^ r^\ ^ A ^ -^ f. ^ \ ?y !/^ 66 "The Stcp-bj'-Step Primer" is the name of the liist book pub- lished. It is so called because but one additional sound and letter is introduced with each new page. The " Sermon on the Mount" has also been printed with this type. The primer is used in the famous Workingman's School, 103 West Fifty-fourth street, and in many j)rivate schools. Teachers often send for the book for themselves, and adopt the plan for blackboard Work in teaching reading when the book has not been supplied to the pupils by the school board of their district. Since inventing Pronouncing Print the thought has recurred to me that the foundation of a true method of teaching to read will not be reached until Pure Phonics is taught in the kinder- gartens. Children should be accustomed to produce the element- ary sounds which compose the common words they use before they are made at all acijuainted with the letters which are in- tended to represent, or misrepresent, these sounds. Xearly twenty years ago, in the " Spelling PJeformer," I claimed that Pure Phonics, entirely apart from letters, should be made an exercise in the Kindergartens. Going back to that idea I am now writing for Kindergarten papers, and interviewing Kindergarten teachers and trainers. I hope thus to sow some phonetic seed which in the near future will produce an enlightened and vigorous growth of action that will ultimately bring to fruition a satisfactory revision of English orthography. My attitude on the question of Woman Suffrage has always been that of claiming for my sex equal advantages and oppor- tunities with men for doing whatever woman has the ability to perform. A woman is, first of all, a woman. Her human nature is paramount to her performance of any special function, or her filling any prescribed sphere. During 1808 and part of 18G9 I was assistant editor of the Woman's Advocate, published by A. J. Boyer, at Daj'ton, Ohio. Since residing in this city I have been a mem- ber of various organizations to promote equal sufl'rage, and for several years I offered myself for registration before election. Before coming East my signature was Eliza V. Burns, or E. V. B., but wishing to retain my maiden name of Boardman, I substituted B. for V. since 1869. Bj- careful observance of hygienic laws, and looking both ways when crossing the streets lest trolleys or cables demolish me, I hope to live long enough to vote in New York, and rather expect it because my grandmother, father and two maiden aunts lived to be ninety years of age. My son Channing and two grandsons are my personal contri- bution to the ranks of the stenographic profession. 67 ^<^'V ^l^-rV^^^-^^ V .f. ^ "^^y^ U ( K (,^<^ -^,( 1o C^^^ ■N •■ ^'V /' 1"^' aU 1 ■' V ^--, /, i L_ 1 \ 'j..> v^, <^ " -) rf— , f /, L ; ^ ^, v\ ■"- ^.,.. ^^,(^,.H ^ ^ , ^ : r-^ ly ■' ^ ^ ^ ^ ' ^ ^ \^ ^\ ^ ' 68 MRS. E. B. BURNZ' ACCOUNT OF HER CASE. "On Thursday evening, March fAh, 1896, Mrs. Eliza B. Burnz, aged seventy-two, and liaving been in good health, attended a lecture at Columbia College. About nine p.m. she was seized with vertigo, followed by vomiting and purging, and had to be sent home. After twenty-four houis of vomiting and purging it ceased, but the vertigo remained so that she had to keep her bed. The third day, viz., Saturday, she was taken with sciatica, with which she had suffered many years, though at long intervals. A physi- cian was sent for and in three or four days the sciatica subsided, but the vertigo still remained, though diminished in severity. On Tuesday the doctor made a thorough examination of Mrs. Burnz and found her organically soimd in every respect except slight liver derangement; the urine was examined and found to be normal. Vertigo having subsided for several days, though by no means entirely gone, Mrs. Burnz sat up part of the days on the 14th, 15th and 16th. On IMonday, 17th, she had been sitting up during the afternoon and evening, when she rose to cross the room, and after taking two steps fell without any premonition, flat on her left side — the side in which she had had sciatica; she could not rise, and in terrible agony was lifted and laid upon a couch. Dr. Barstow was called in and administered palliatives and next day called in a surgeon. Dr. Belden, as he feared the head of the femur might be broken; Dr. Belden decided, after measuring the length of the legs, that there was no fracture, but injury to the sciatic nerve and ligaments. Dr. Barstow tried various remedies in the way of rubifacients, electricity and hypodermic injections to produce sleep. 69 vv. •— -'— -<\ ^> ^ ^!S-^^^J^^2.^ -^^^ ' X ^ > 3 ^ "3^ 9^ ^ ^ '^', U-'^ ^J 1 1 ^ \. J Y c -7 ^ V • '^ ^ ^ • ^ V^ -7 ^- ' -,r-^ CL^ A—' ^~i^ \« r , \^ a \' -^ X ^ = H ...J irvT> r v: , ^ ^:^x|^, ° ,h,._ \4 (y. "^ \ U 3- 70 After four weeks, tliere being no improvement and the patient remaining utterly helpless, she was taken to the Woman's In- firmary, at No. 5 Livingston Place, in an ambulance. The sur- geon there decided that there was an impacted fracture of the head of the femur, which was shown by the shortening of the left, or injured limb. The pain was incessant througiiout tlie whole limb, and especially severe at night. From the middle of April to June massage was given almost daily and rubbing with alcohol or chloroform liniment used at night. f4reat care was taken to give a full supply of nourishing food. On the first of June Dr. Kelly advised that a trial be made to learn to walk with crutches; for four ^A'eeks previous Mrs. Burnz had sat up a considerable portion of each day in a large easy chair. From June 1st to August 1st, when Mrs. Burnz left the Infirmaiy, she walked with the crutches a little every day, the nurse sustaining her by means of a strong leather belt. There was much pain and no strength at all in the wounded limb. During this time the right leg had seemed to be partially devoid of feeling, especially in the loAver part, and there was pain in the knee in fiexing it. At the present date, September 1st, after being five weeks at home, eveiy attention to the limb, there has been no improve- ment, but a greater stiffness and contraction of the muscles be- tween the hip and knee and an increase of pain on any motion; at night it seems impossible to obtain a position of the limb which is at all easy. The pain is principally seated back of the hip-bone, extending downward across the groin and sometimes at the back of the leg to the knee and often on one side or the other below the knee to the middle of the calf. At this time, as during the past month, the appetite is fairly good, stomach undisturbed, discharge of urine normal as to ipiantity, the lungs unimpeded by colds, and great care has been taken, by occasional doses of cascara, to keep 71 '^ > "^ "CL^" ^V '^-^> ,. L, ^ --^' " i^ '' J' V '^ Y -^ "I ^^ ( ^' ^ ^ \ *N. X VV) ^ ■- ' ^ " * ' 1 ' ■v. r w n: the bowels regular. It is necessary to state, however, that heavi- ness and unsteadiness felt in the head and the somnolent tendency has never ceased since the first attack of vertigo; there is, how- ever, no swimming of objects Avhen looked at, but when turning the head to change the direction of vision, the eyes do not at once seem to apprehend the object looked at, and there is a consequent slowness in all action." The foregoing was dictated by Mrs. Burnz; and after passing the winter at home, in about the same condition, she concluded to go to Walter's Park, Pa. Dr. Robert Walter writes as follows: " Mrs. Eliza B. Burnz arrived at our institution in May, 1897, suffering from a severe attack of bronchitis as well as from a broken hip, which rendered her ever afterward unable to walk except with the aid of crutches. In a short time she recovered completely from her bronchitis but continued seriously crippled, confined to the house and, substantially, to her room. Six j-ears she endui'ed helplessness with fortitude, but her spirit Avas continually depressed by her inability to pursue her life work. Mentally she was as bright as ever; she had been a patient in this institution nearly twenty years previously. Mrs. Burnz was a woman of great tenacity of purpose and ambitious to serve her fellow men. During the later months of her life she was an intense sufferer from neuralgia and succumbed to the eff"ects about the middle of June, 1903. Her mind remained clear up to within a few days of her death, but toward the last she had lost consciousness and finally passed away peacefully. Hers was, indeed, a life full of good works." 73 * n< Vt^^ ."^ '^x , I ^ ^>T V; j^^r*' ^^ ' ^ » - i.s,^,..^,^.v.^^'^ 74 IN MEMORIAM LETTER TO FONIC-SHORTHAND CORRESPONDING CLUB. My Dear Friends of the Fonie-Shorthand Correspondinq- Club: The following sketch of my mother's earnest, thorough, ])usy, fearless life, spent in the conscientious doing of what she found to be her duty, will be all of this letter. There was born on October 31st, 1823, to John Boardman and his estimable wife, at Rayne, County of Essex, England, Eliza, their first child. This child was delicate and at thirteen years of age sailed to America, by physician's advice and in hope that she might live to grow up. She went to kinfolks in Tennessee, where she pretty soon became a country school teacher; and from then, through her long life, with all its work, pro bono publico, she earned her living by constant work and saved enough to be comfortable at the end, pay funeral expenses and leave something to carry on her work. While teaching a country school, in 1845, she read of the newly invented phonography, of Isaac Pitman; the whole plan of which, in its wonderful simplicity and beauty, unfolded before her mind and she saw, as by a lightning flash, the marvelous results to follow such a presentation of thought and perceived the still greater blessing to future generations, when the truth as it is in phonetic science should be made the basis of language teaching. From 1848 to 1850, in Ohio, she engaged, body and soul, in the attempt at phonetic reform, the workers for which hoped to change our spelling by showing the country its folly in that respect and a way to right it. Not disheartened by failure to at once change our mode of spelling, she continued phonetic work wherever opportunity occurred — notably by negro teaching at Fisk School, in Nashville, in 1867 and 1868, where, by use of the 75 ..l^,..^-.->Y- r^ "^-.^J f -A >A.. .'TX^ C ' ^ i ^ ^ ^_^ !._. ' ^ ^ ^.^- -],.< (• ^ t^jj. -s -^-^ :i '^' %-f <^-D s. fr^ C-^/J C/-! 't^ -It Vf ^ ( ^ kx...qv,J,:5x^. ^ 4 -p rv ■^ ^ '^- «_P "^ ^ rJ^ C. -2 ^ 1 y)~^,^ VV "^ ^^A^^ .iz:d>v ^ ^" Cy. ^■. \^ i,^ .3^ ^ ■\„\-.,:^.,.,Q3. ^, old Longley phonetic bookf5, she made the negro children readers in less than half the usual time. Mrs. Burnz then taught phonography actively in Cincinnati for some time and came to New York in 1SG9 and opened her school here. It was directly through her effort, patiently per- sisted in [because her knowledge of phonography's proper place as a clerical help and of woman's intellectual adaptability therefor, gave her prophetic sight], that Mr. Peter Cooper granted to her — against the advice of his trustees — in 1872 a room in the Cooper Institute, rent free, in which to teach freely to classes of women her then newly published system of Phonic Shorthand. For about seventeen years these classes were continued — she thus and in many other ways opening this new field to women and earning the proud title of " The Mother of the Young Woman Short- hander." When she began to teach in New York, in 1871, the women stenographers here could have been counted on the fingers of one hand; now they number thousands. Mrs. Burnz was, in 1879, the first teacher of those now well-known and much sought- after classes in Phonic Shorthand at the Y^oung Women's Chris- tian Association. Although an active spelling reformer since 184G, she was for many years of later life convinced that there is a primary need to be filled before reform shall be practicable with the people or seem to be to the literaii and to teachers at large — namely, that speech be made a popular science. While evolving this theory she presented the " Anglo-American " alphabet and primer, in 1876-7, in which there are no new letters — the vaiious sounds being represented by common letters and by digraphs; then in 1894 she perfected and published her further compromise with typical conservatism, hoping 77 i^iirrx^,-) X-S,^ u ^,(v,^. 1,0" ijj, / ^ L^^H^rj^ >-. '^ ! (L ^ /^ v^-^ "^ -- ^'l^^'' J :,..^ ^ 2 ^ V I ' \ ^ ^U- 4 n -N ^ -I ^'^ \ ^^ -^ ^ S^^ ^^^c / v^^V-,^^_,<^ .(L^ I ^.^ f'...:^ I .^:^.Y^^,i ^ n^^ V] V V °> ."^. ^ ^ ^ — 1 w^ i -^' > X. ^ ^ c 78 tliat a furtlierdawn of truth might help the people, her " Pronounc- ing Print " — in which the five vowels, a, e, i, o and u, each stand for their usual short sounds, unless shown by Websterian diacritic marks to vary, in whi h silent letters are shown by hair-line type and a letter standing improperly for a sound has a very small letter beneath it to show the sound meant. After " Pro- nouncing Print " had been published in a primer and the Ser- mon on the IMount, her earnest mind was inspired to show teach- ers of kindergartens that our little tots should be taught to speak correctly by having knowledge of the phonic elements of speech given them in games. Mrs. Burnz was engaged in writing to edu- cational publications on this subject and in teaching teachers the value to our children of instruction in " Pure Phonics," before tliey know aught of letters, and in arranging plays with sounds as objects when, in the spring of 1896, she was taken ill at an educational meeting and sent home in a carriage; she was ill for some days and, when arising to cross the room for something, in her nurse's absence, she fell to the floor and fractured her hip. After several months at a hospital, she stayed at home a while and then went to Walter's Park, in Pennsylvania, and at that noted sanitarium was an invalid on crutches — ^but not quite in- valid, for she tliought and during the past year has compiled into a book much of her writings of 1894-5 on "Pure Phonics"; and the same has been issued with that title. But life ebbed very steadily since its publication in May last; and on Friday evening, June 19, 1903, she died. Since 1865 INIrs. Burnz has been an ardent believer in the prac- ticability of and the right to Woman- Suffrage; she was, in 1868-9, an editor of the Woman's Advocate, of Dayton, Ohio; and even in very late years expressed the hope to see it granted before her 79 \->' rr,"^ - \-\..j J^ -:^_ „^/ _- - ^ 1^ Vt^ X L ■^ //■' ^ death. Mrs. Burnz was by nature skeptical, questioning all things, and conscientiously sought answers to all questionings of her mind; as to things theological, she was content at last, however, to own herself agnostic — as well as of the soul's continued life after apparent death. She wished and had only classical music — no church hymns — played by the organist at her incineration. She was a member of the Society for Ethical Culture in New York and a grateful listener to Mr. Felix Adler and his assistants. She was a founder of the New York Cremation Society, which held its first meetings at her school room, 24 Clinton Place, was a stockholder in the U. S. Cremation Co., and her body was cremated at Fresh Pond, Long Island, on the 23d day of June, 1903. Dr. John Elliott, one of Prof. Adler's assistants, spoke the eulogy over her body before it was incinerated. I think it becomes me, my dear Phonic Shorthand Correspond- ing Club and friends at large, to announce myself as the earnest would-be successor of my mother, to carry out her work to the best of my ability and keep before the world her logical short- hand and the importance of phonic instruction. Yours and the world's in truth, Channing Burnz. "Washington, D. C, December 13, 1904. Mr. Channing Burnz, 39 East Eighth Street, New York. Dear Sir: I have to thank you for a copy of " Pure Phonics for Home and Kindergarten," by Eliza Boardman Burnz, recently received. It is a good memento of your mother, and I am glad to have the book. She was faithful to the cause of spelling reform, through- out her busy life. (Signed) W. T. HARRIS." The foregoing autographic acknowledgment from the Com- missioner of Education, and ardent phonetician, is greatly prized by me. 81 'AMU/ ,ZV^..._\ .^ ^--rz-^y^.. n l^ v.. ^ ' 7 '^^ 'ij^^,^ ^>. _y,A 1_ €^ V (^avV V ^^-.^t "^^"' ^^ .a^— ^,^ ^= ^x^.-= .^- :^ i/^-\« ) Vl^ "^^ ^- ^,^ -<, ( -_._f.,..Lj.x >^ ' \ -4 e_^. ^^ 83 MY CHILDHOOD'S MOTHER. Afterthought of Channing Buniz. I remember a stirring, never-at-rest, loving but acute little mother; she was always working, cleaning, cooking, sewing, or else tending us or teaching us, her four children — with her quiet dis- cretion praising, scolding, petting or larruping. And then she was, besides, teacher of the neighborhood's children at school, a mile or more away, to which she walked daily — often twice a day, at which she earned much of what we lived on. But most deeply impressed upon my childhood memory is the tender rever- ence with which she spent the hour between twilight and dark with her children, her bible and music; she would gather us all about her knees, on the door-step in summer or by the fireside when it grew cold, to listen to a song, sentimental or religious, or to the accordion, and then a chapter from the bible and to another tune or song; by dark we must be on our pallets on the floor, or in our beds, and go to sleep, " For the old sandman is putting sand in your eyes, you know." The locality of those first memories is the sand-hills of Sumter County, Alabama — year 1858-9. Then there came news from Tennessee that Grandpa Burns had died and that grandma wanted her son John to live near her. So pa took the horse. Old Rumor, and in a carryall, with six-year-old Ellis and five-year-old Chan., started out over the roads through northern Alabama and Mississippi to Madison County, Tennessee. We camped at night beside the carryall, unless it rained and we got shelter in a house — but sometimes there was none and we got wet at night in the carryall. The flags of the election 88 v^ — -^ '^ ctI *^" ^ ^ ^^^ ^ -A> ^< ^ * ^^ ^-^ ^^- ? ^4 ^> K — / ^. V \ 1^ ^^^^n ^- ^^ '/ 1 ^ X ]_' r" ,(,/ t 4^ ^fi _, ^ t ^L "-^fc^- } ^a. 84 display, at all the towns we passed, still flaunt vividly in my memory — the Stars and Stripes and many others — maybe some were secession designs. But at grandma's our journey ended; and we tarried there while pa and the neighbors raised a double log cabin on the land near by that Uncle Henry Boardman, mother's merchant brother, of Germantown, Tenn., had bought and given her. Sister Fanny Jones had gone to Texas, to live with Uncle George Boardman, before we left Alabama; and mother, sister Nettie and Grandpa Boardman had stayed in Alabama, with our one slave, old Anthony, while we journeyed to Tennessee. When the house was built, and when mother had finished her school and sold the home in Alabama and settled matters there, she came with the rest of the family by railroad train to Tennessee, and we all went to live in our new home. It had two rooms, the cabins, built of half-hewn logs, chinked and daubed with clay, probably fourteen by sixteen feet each, set end to end, about ten feet apart, a roof over all, and each wath its loft or attic ; in one of these was a chimney and fireplace built in the end of the cabin, of logs, chinked and well daubed; such chinked and daubed log chimneys were quite safe, and ours stood many a roaring fire. There were two other rooms, of clapboards on frames of riven logs, at the sides of the cabins, one for kitchen and one for Grandpa's room; and the space between the cabins, sheltered by the roof, though with earthen floor, served nicely for an eating place and for sitting in in summer. Father gained some medical practice and improved the place — built stable, corn-crib and fences, and got several acres of the timber cleared and grubbed cultivably; and then the Civil War came on in dead earnest. W^hile mother's sympathies were with the Yankees, in their wish for universal freedom throughout the country and for manhood's responsibility for 85 VI / .c_. Iv /-K^ c V -ji. ■r ^ >C\, J \' j\-. "^ ^r,^,(^ _ ^i^ ^ I ) ^ e^ ^ X .^_^ .iZr^ 1 C 'V-:^ 8G every man, father took no interest in the negro question, and said he wouldn't fight for either side. But, from the persua- sion of the neighbors, he at length joined the Seccession army, on the assurance tliat he would be made surgeon of the regi- ment; but when enlisted he was put into the ranks and an- other doctor appointed surgeon. He went with Bragg's army to Pittsburg Landing and, three days before the battle of Shiloh, "lit out"; dodging between the scouts of both sides through stormy swamps, he got into the Federal lines on the evening after the first day's battle, and found a welcome as nurse in the full hospital tents. This he told us when, on furlough, he came home one night, so changed that his children did not know him in the morning, though " Tige," the old dog, did in the dark ; and mother, awakened by his joyous bark, welcomed the deserter. After a day's visit, father bade us good-by and set out for the Yankee lines. Mother kept all this secret, even from pa's mother and sisters, who were ardent Secessionists; and so far as Madison County knew, John B, Burns hadn't been heard from. After a while Grandpa Boardman, at the invitation of Uncle Henry, went to Germantown, near Memphis. He started ahorse- back, although sixty-odd years old, and made the trip success- fully. Mother stayed in the woods home with her children, trying to cultivate the land with old Anthony's help, until he died and she dug, herself, a grave by his cabin and got a couple of passing neighbors to lower him into it ; then she read from the bible and sang a hymn above the body and fiWed in the grave with her own hands — giving him as decent a burial as possible. We children, who had watched his sickness and sorrowed, seeing the kind old negro lie dead, were the only other mourners. And now our mother was the sole protector of the children and the home. \ :r7(/y^i^ :^\^ \ -:^..^^ -^ ^^ [(_><::. ^ v. ^v N-*" y / o->^^i L c L \ \. ^>A— S^^;- ^"^.f , ^^V ^S^^ ^ -^^.'"1 ^-' — --^ - ^- /^- ^ y^ \ - n '"at V r ^ -- "v... t^^-^ -^ ^^ V I 'l 88 Notwithstanding mother's disposition to do good and give the world full value for her life, she Mas never liberal beyond her means — of too sound judgment for that. As the arm'es passed, first Confederate and then Federal, she wrs kind to both in turn and sold them such bread and pies and other eatables as she could by her foresight prepare from scanty provisions in hard war times; she even stationed a table by the roadside, directing one of the children to stay by it, instructed as to prices of its load, which a passing regiment would soon clear off, paying for what they took; you know nearly every man is an honest gentle- man when he is one of an orderly company. Our house was on the big road, half way between Bolivar and Jackson, and the soldiers passed for days at a time. Mother stayed there in pinched thrift, sometimes in dire poverty; for beside the want of money there was want of goods in the stores thereabouts, as throughout the South. But beyond tliat, and more galling to her, she was in a worse than alien country; for no mind there in the West Tennessee woods could think with hers, and the hearts were set in different molds. For about two years she was thus alone with her children; and then, father having been attached to the hos- pital at Louisville, Ky., and the Federals having quite gained possession of western Tennessee, so that they could write to each other frequently, it was arranged that mother should again follow him. To this end we had an auction of our household things and stock, etc. — all there was, except a couple of trunks-full and a few bundles, with which we started on the train to Columbus, Tenn., took the boat from there to Cairo, 111., and then a train to New Albany, Ind., and across to Louisville. In Louisville pa rented a brick house on Fifth Street — a palace to us — and we children soon started to school astonishing the teachers by our ability to read and understand what we read — the fruit of fonetic teaching and instruction as to the relation of words printed to words spoken, mother's home-teaching. Mother's time, aside from 8f) home duties, I remember, was given very largely to visiting the hospitals and in trying, with the other members of the Uni- tarian Church, which we attended, to foster union sentiment. Although father was paid what seemed to us a princely salary, I think it was seventy- five dollars a month, mother encouraged Ellis and me to sell the song-books, stationery and prize packages, issued for the purpose by our tenant of a part of the house, at the camp and hospitals, and also to sell the same and newspapers on the city streets, on Saturdays and holidays; we thus providing ourselves with spending money and some necessities, instead of asking her. I have blest her much in later days for thus teach- ing me pride in independence. In April, 1865, at the dreadful news of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, among all the mourners mother's sorrow was of the keenest. To show her grief and loy- alty she had no flag to drape in crape; in those days flags were not on sale, as now, in dry-goods stores, and in Louisville they were scarce. The day he was reported shot she bought muslin — India red and white and blue — and when we heard that he was dead, she hung it, draped in crape, from our front window; the houses thus decorated were few. I have that flag; it was dis- played when Mr. Garfield and when Mr. McKinley died by the hands of Booth's imitators. I write these early memories and impressions of my beloved mother, as I have but general knowledge of her great life work that came .through and out of such particulars as I narrate; her autobiography brought into sight her ideals, efforts and effectual work; because of my erstwhile selfishness and lack of interest, I cannot treat particularly of them; but in this personal tribute can only say that I loved and honored her from my first to her last, and now pray for strength to hold her light up to the world. 91 3i^4j 03. "A V .^ /A h \ ^. W J U, ^ U^> I ^-. ^ \r^ J £_, ^ ^ 6" (U V. --^Y -\ /' ^ t^. b I ^-' v> ~ -"^ ^ ^J^ f "^1X1 ^ Vs'^'' 92 THE SCHOOL JOURNAL: October 31st, 1903. " Few of the thousands of women stenographers and teachers of stenography, who hold their positions with all the dignity and respect accorded to men, know how great a debt of grati- tude they owe to their pioneer champion, the late Mrs. Eliza Boardman Burnz. Besides championing the cause of women in business, Mrs. Burnz was the inventor of a system of phonog- raphy, and the author of considerable phonetic literature. In 1895 Mrs. Burnz finished her ' Pronouncing Print,' a book in which the ordinary spelling is I'endered reasonably phonetic in its indication of spoken words. She had already done much to interest educators in the efficacy of phonics for teaching foreigners to read our print, but her next purpose was an effort to assist in the educational plans aiTanged for children. She believed that the child, when it begins work in the kindergarten, should be taught that talking is reducible by analysis of each word into sound elements. The child should also be shown how to make this analysis in words of two or three sounds, with songs and plays, without any knowledge of letters. Thus she included the principle that the spoken word is the primal form in language and foreruns the printed word. Until the time of her death last June, Mrs. Burnz worked on this book by compiling her writings bearing upon this idea. The book is a fitting memorial. Its title is ' Pure Phonics.' It is an extremely readable little volume, comprising a collection of essays upon the need of instruction in pure phonics, lessons and games as examples of how it should be taught, and suggestions as to following kindergarten instruction. The last point is illustrated by letters in the manner of ' Pro- nouncing Print ' in the primary school. Examples are given such as were used in her ' Step by Step Primer.' " 93 ■^mm,m!j mmrm M, ips. / r ^i / -G-^'-^i--* r' V '^ ^ \ i_Ji— - -4 ^ J'i 04 MR. B. C. IHURRAY, IN SUNDAY GAZETTEER, of Dennison, Tex., Novembtr 1st, l'J03. " We were pleased to receive, a few days ago, a copy of a book entitled ' Pure Phonics,' the last of the many valuable educational works published by INIrs. Eliza Boardman Burnz, whose useful life was closed on the 19th of June last. The writer had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with the gifted lady, who devoted a long and useful life to an earnest endeavor to impress upon the public the importance of a reformation of our barbarous orthography. The little work before us, of about a hundred pages, is a collection of short essays presenting the need and method of teaching the elementary sounds of our language to children, before they are taught to read. Her idea was to intro- duce this instruction into the homes and kindergartens, and in in a way that would interest the little tots and at the same time train them in distinct articulation and clear enunciation, thereby laying a foundation that would be lasting. The interest of the children is awakened and maintained by resolving words of two or three letters into their sound elements and showing them how to do this by pretty songs and vocal organ exercises. This book presents strong and convincing arguments for the correctness of her theory, and the several lessons give a clear idea of the method to be followed by the teacher. Mrs. Burnz was actively engaged in instructing teachers and writing and lecturing on this subject, when in 189G she met with an accident which made her a cripple and which finally resulted in her death. The preparation of this volume for publication was the last w'ork she did, and which she said she would leave as a phonic seed to sprout, and grow into a fruitful tree. We have strong faith in Mrs. Burnz' idea, and believe, if generally adopted by kindergarten teachers, it would prove of lasting benefit to the little ones. We should like some of our teachers to give it a trial, and if any of them desire to investigate the method and will call at this office we will be pleased to loan them this copy of Pure Phonics for inspection." 95 _-..._,-- ..^'^.^.T ^ 1^. -'^- \, ^- .._..!!'.!.'^....'yiE'^ORIAM ELIZA B-OARDMAN BURNS. .;^'v,\'^-t^:^v^^^"^- " ^ 3, L l)» ^ A r A^ ^.,| "'^« ^(^ ^^ ' "^^^ {r\\''V (^^ ^,n Y^."^ \^ .^ '•fvA.^^'^"Y,"^'< /^ % Excerpt from^the report of the Annual Meeting of the New York State Stenographers' Association, of August 28th, 1903. "IN MEMORIAM, ELIZA BOARDMAN BURNZ. Eliza Boardman Eurnz, librarian of this association from I880 to 1893, and since that time one of our honorary members, died on June 19th, 1903, at Walters Park, in the State of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Burnz was an Englishwoman by birth, having first seen the light of day at Rayne, Essex, England, on October 31st, 1823. Had she lived until October next she would have completed her eightieth year. She came to this country when a young girl and led a very active and useful life up to within a few years of her death. Though interested in many progressive movements during her busy career, first as an associate of Qianning in his emancipation crusades, and later as an ardent advocate of woman suffrage, Mrs. Burnz will be chiefly remembered as an enthusiast in the cause of spelling reform, as the author of Burnz' Fonic Shorthand and as the ' mother ' of women stenographers. At this same hotel in which we are now holding our sessions, at the meeting of 1889, Mrs. Burnz read an excellent paper on the subject of spelling reform; and, indeed, a perusal of our proceedings will show that at each annual meeting, while she retained her active membership, she was always on hand ready to discuss and debate her pet subject. One of the chief argu- ments used by Mrs. Burnz in favor of the reform in our spelling \\ as that it would give a true representation of English words as they are pronounced. In learning phonography she became imbued with the spirit of phonography, which is to represent a sound by a sign, and this led her to enter the ranks of the spelling reformers. She claimed that by the adoption of this reform a child or a for- eigner could learn to read English in half the time that is now necessary to master the language. She contended that useless let- ters in words were as superfluous as a fifth wheel to a coach, and when called upon for illustrations was always ready with the un- necessary ' ue ' in such words as ' catalogue,' ' epilogue,' ' prologue ' 97 -^ '^-^y^ ^ \ ^^ - '^ '" \-^ \ ^ " 4' A"- ' ^ \^t^,i^'^. ^ ^ 1 ^^U-)V(V^^>.^^./ vfi ■'^'■Ht; • "^ ^ ^ "^ "^'^ "-'""-" ^ i - - ^ t-^L ^ ^' \ ' ^ ■^' ^ . \^f^J^ ^ - -V;^,^..-^ \ ' — ■ '' L • ^ ^ ;. / ^ V^ ^ Ik J - -- \ . 98 and ' demagogue.' Though she did not receive very much en- couragement from this association in this branch of her work, she kept up her interest in it and never relinquished her faith in its final accomplishment. In one of her last papers read be- fore this association on this subject, she said: 'Sooner or later it must be done. It will come, and it might come far more rap- idly if the various literary and educational classes and societies would individually work for it. At present the creation of pub- lic opinion is chiefly through the efforts of a few isolated in- dividuals. These few with faith in the spirit of eternal progress, and utilizing such opportunities as they have at their command, every now and then let the world know that the idea of spelling reform has not been abandoned.' The world is better off for the presence in it of such enthusi- asts who, seeing evils in one direction or another, seek to remedy them, rather than to stand complacently by and say, ' It's no use trying; better leave well enough alone.' Though the peculiarity of our spelling is not any wonderful evil, her continued criticism of it, in spite of opposition and lack of encouragement, enables us to judge of the forceful character of Mrs. Burnz. She labored with zeal and enthusiasm to remedy what she considered an evil. She had the undaunted spirit of the true reformer who is not dis- mayed, discouraged or cast down by the failure of the world to listen to the proposed reform. One of her favorite essays, which appears in each edition of her text-book, is entitled ' The Reformer,' and from it she doubtless took her conception of what a real reformer might expect to meet with. It says : ' All history and all experience teach us that new ideas are unpopular with the masses of men, and that those who advance them must expect opposition and persecution. By a sort of instinctive desire for preservation men cling to the old with a grasp that is not easily loosed until they have become prepared to receive the new. What then is the duty of the reformer? Shall he cease to pro- claim his message because men are not prepared to receive it? Nay, not so. The command is upon him and he cannot choose but speak. For he is but an instrument through which the Great Unknown works out His designs and purposes in the world, and his progression as well as his neighbor's conservatism is a neces- 99 .r.. ...x- ^ \\i\^^^ j^y^^U ^S^-Sl ^■^\-.^'^ 'J Vi^ -^^ ^, . ^ '-, ' " X^" L, '^ ^\ J -^ .y I'^u^^ - J ^;^ ^ — ^} ^^, ^ ^ I - 100 sary condition to the exact and orderly working of the universal and ever- persistent law of progress. His thoughts are as children born to him which he may not carelessly let die.' Thus inspired with the spirit of the real reformer, Mrs. Burnz, firm in the belief that slavery was wrong, took her stand with those who sought its abolition; believing that women should have equal rights with men she strove earnestly to bring about woman suffrage, and filled with a desire to simplify the education of the masses she labored earnestly in the cause of spelling reform. As the author of Burnz' Fonic Shorthand Mrs. Burnz took her place beside the many who undertook to modify or improve upon the system of shorthand invented by Isaac Pitman. She made no claim of originality. All that she did claim for lier work was that it treated all parts of the subject with exceeding sim- plicity, adapting it even to the comprehension of a child. In the preface to her text-book she frankly stated : ' The author lays no special claim to originality, but acknowledges with pride and pleasure her indebtedness not alone to Mr. Isaac Pitman, the in- ventor of phonography, and the grand source of inspiration on this subject, but also to the many other lovers and practitioners of the art, who have written and published more or less respecting it. And, further, she acknowledges her many obligations to a large number of able reporters in New York and various parts of America and Great Britain who have assisted her by friendly suggestions and given her the best results of their experience. These gentlemen will ever be held in grateful remembrance and cheerfully accredited with whatever aid they have furnished.' It certainly can Ije claimed for the Burnz system that it is one of unexampled legibility. Its use by reporters for many years has proven its rapidity. These two features — legibility and speed — entitle it to stand among the best systems of shorthand in use to-day. Perhaps Mrs. Burnz's surest claim to fame is as a teacher and as the so-called ' mother ' of women stenographers. About 1872, when such a thing as a woman stenographer in an office was practically unknown, when the typewriter had not quite 101 ^ . \ \ V ^^^^^^(-,^', ^ ^ iHA. /" ^ t/ ''^ > \^^ n. loe been perfected, and w hen the court stenographer was looked upon as some sort of a mysterious magician, Mrs. Burnz secured from that great phihanthropist, Peter Cooper, against the advice of the trustees of Cooper Union, a room, rent free, in which to teach shorthand. Her class was not a part of the regular course in Cooper Union and, in fact, she was looked upon as somewhat of an outsider. Notwithstanding opposition she went about her work with the same enthusiastic spirit which characterized everything she did. She gathered a small class of ambitious young men and women about her and week after week imparted to them, in a clear and comprehensive manner, the principles of the mystic art. From that small beginning by a sincerely earnest woman, labor- ing to better the condition of young men and young women of the great city by teaching them shorthand, free of charge, there has come in the last thirty years that immense army of self- supporting young wcmien stenographers. Mrs. Burnz taught short- hand largely for the love of it. The classes in Cooper Union were free, as were those in the Young Women's Christian Association. As an instructor she was painstaking and tliorough. She insisted that her pupils should thoroughly master all the principles of phonography before any attempt was made to acquire speed. When she wrote she made the most perfect shorthand outlines, and she endeavored to teach her pupils to do likewise. She real- ized that if the race for speed was begun too soon the making of shapely outlines would be out of the question. She maintained that speed in reading notes after they were taken was just as essential as speed in writing them. She had no sympathy with the numerous fake schools that sprang up all over the country, where it was claimed that a person could become an expert re- porter in three months. In her later years she had the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing some of her early pupils turn out to be expert reporters of whom it could be said, with truth, that the could read their notes. Mrs. Burnz was for many years an interested member of this association. She was its first librarian, serving in that capacity from 1885 to 1893. Our proceedings for 1893 contain a complete list of the books in the library, compiled by her. 103 \ .,^'J^ f^^' > ft^ ...CI" ---^ ; X^x ik-Zl / A /I ^ = S Ln . T ^ 1? ^A,^-. ' ,.x: ^ ' f..^... ^..x ._ ;..._ X^ ^ <.^ ^9 /^ , t . /:) }d'1-^ ' W^- -^ ^.-^ A 11, -/" x k ' ^..._..^^„.x, ."si X t^ r . . \ — 1^ 'A ^." K ' ^ V •■\'^-- ^^f-^ ^-^ ^^ _xv^ 1 ' \_^ "L ^ ^ ;__ T^ \y^ ^,/v L ^ ^, ,^ ^ W ^ ^ ^^ ^^ :^ =- Y' ^ ^^^^ ^'^ ~ 104 She resigned her active membership and her position as libra- rian in 1893, in a letter in which she said: 'Dear friends: with feelings of the highest esteem and gratitude for the uniform kindness and many special favors I have received from you, both individually and as an association, I tender my resigna- tion from your honorable body.' These kindly sentiments were reciprocated by the passage of a resolution by the association expressing its appreciation " of her interest in all matters relating to shorthand which had continued unabatediy for many years.' To evidence the high regard in which she was held by the pro- fession Mrs. Burnz was then elected an honorary member of the association, and so continued down to the time of her death. In the passing away of this good lady the New York State Stenographers' Association has lost a valued honorary member; the shorthand profession in the United States a pioneer in the teaching and practice of phonography, and the writer of this imperfect memorial an early benefactor and a lifelong friend. Resolved, That the New York State Stenographers' Associ- ation records its sincere regret at the death of Eliza Boardman Burnz, its first librarian and distinguished honorary member. Resolved, That a copy of the memorial read and the fore- going resolutions be forwarded to the relatives of our late member. Adopted." The above Memorial and Resolutions were written and offered to the meeting by Mr. Peter P. McLoughlin, who was a member of one of the early Cooper Union classes, and afterward took a few private lessons with Mrs. Burnz. Since 1887 he has been of- ficial stenographer of the Court of General Sessions in New York, and has reported with exceptional ability its very difficult matter, including a number of extremely intricate and technical cases, requiring not only great speed and staying power, but absolute accuracy. 105 .X.< 5^«^ mmnl. A \ ^ . ^ ^^^t A^ J '-"D r ^ () ^7 /\ "13? .1^ c. ^_^ ^ ^ ^ r L ie ^•■•■ i TV ' u- ^ ,^"'. t., \ : z - h ^ „ ■3, lUO POEMS BY MRS. ELIZA B. BURNZ. REMINISCENT NEW ENGLAND. Recited by her at a literary entertainment held by the teachers of Nashville, in 1866; but it has never been published otherwise till now. A Pilgrim Mother is walking by the shore of the Atlantic Ocean: she muses: Dear island home, where friends and kindred dwell. Far have I wandered from thee; yet a spell Of melancholy sweetness wraps my soul When my lone musings o'er the blue waves roll, And in my view the cliffs of Albion stand — Giant protectors of that sea-girt land; I see the meadows, fields of bending grain. Thou, noble river, royal-towered Thames, Fair villages — half hidden "neath the trees. Each cottage with its garden, murmuring bees And rose and jas'mine o'er the casement twined, The limpid, pebbly brook that loves to wind 107 I ^;^-_^ \,_ ■ef --t^ 4 ^■ .^. /( r° J L=. S,t ^, -^v c ^'f r y .' " 1 d ^ -^^-^^ ^J-^^ ^- : -^ A, ^ ^ ,:._.\ \^^ ^ ' r^. ^ 108 Amid tall rushes wild — upon its breast The water-lily's petals gently rest. Dear English scenes, imprinted on my mind With all youth's sweet remembrances entwined, Can I forget ye? Never! while this heart Is memory's seat, ye cannot thence depart. England! Although across the ocean-foam To this fair, fertile land, my chosen home, Thour't still my country. Must I not be true To that green, fertile isle, where first I drew The breath of life, heaven's boon, the earliest, best? There, too, the ashes of my fathers rest; Where, but beneath Britannia's verdant sod. By altars where her children bow to God And where my infant lips were taught to raise The voice of prayer — the notes of love and praise? Where are my sisters, where that ardent friend On whose warm sympathy I could depend In every childish sorrow, schoolmates, too? 109 V. 6 (fj , ^ f-^, vV c ^ ->X<- /^ >•■ ° 9 *H" '^ 1 J 1 ^ o_^ra_-, ; a_A J £)__>? '=^— I "^ V ; V_^/ L, h, If kf ^ J L, J. — > r ' 7 ' ^' ' ^...Z7, .1,, ^, L, A^, L,_^, ^.l^,^, I, % (^>',^,d,.^,. ^ ^ A.« -r" ,.p,J)at,)4.v.^..'Z='..,J).^^^^ 122 six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine, eighty, eighty one, eighty two, eighty tliree, eighty four, eighty five, eighty six, eighty seven, eighty eight, eighty nine, ninety, ninety one, ninety two, ninety three, ninety four, ninety five, ninety six ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine, a hundred one hundred one liundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three, one hundred and four, one hundred and five, one hundred and six, one hundred and seven, one hundred and eight, one hundred and nine, one hundred and ten, one hundred and eleven, one hundred and twelve, one hundred and thirteen, one hundred and fourteen, one hundred and fifteen, one hundred and sixteen, one hundred and seventeen, one hundred and eighteen, one hundred and nineteen, one hundred and twenty, one hundred and twenty one, one hundred and twenty two, one hundred and twenty three; one hundred and thirty, one hundred and forty, one hundred and fifty, one hundred and sixty, one hundred and seventy, one hundred and eighty, one hundred and ninety, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred, ten hundred, eleven hundred, twelve hundred, thirteen hundred; a thousand, one thousand, a thousand and one, one thousand and one, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, Bix thousand, seven thousand, eight thousand, nine thousand, ten thousand, eleven thousand, twelve thousand, thirteen thousand, nineteen thousand, twenty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand, eighty thousand, ninety thousand, one hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand. Ordinals: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, twenty first, twenty second, twenty third, twenty fourth, twenty fifth, thirtieth, fortieth, fiftieth, sixtieth, seventieth, eightieth, ninetieth, a hundredth, one hundredth, one hundred and first, one hundred and second, one hundred and third, one hundred and tenth. Fractions : a half, one half, a third, one third, two thirds, a fourth, one fourth, three fourths, a quarter, one quarter, three quarters, one fifth, two fifths, three fifths, one sixth, five sixths, one seventh two sevenths, three sevenths, four sevenths, five sevenths, six sevenths, one eighth, three eighths, five eighths, one ninth, two ninths, four ninths, one tenth, one twentieth, one sixteenth, three sixteenths, a thirty second. One and a half, one and one half, two and a third, three and one fourth, three and three fourths, three and a quarter, three and three quarters. Eighteenth October, nineteen hundred and four. 123 We Publish and Sell FONIC- SHORTHAND, Mrs. Burnz' great SELF - INSTRUCTOR in Phonography that is Quick as Thought, yet Plain as Print $1.00 Four Readers in Fonic-Shorthand, being MEMORIAL READER (this book) 75c REYNARD THE FOX 50c SELECTIONS 50c OUR FUTURE LIFE 20c Also Mrs. Burnz' Spelling-Reform Works and STEP BY STEP PRIMER and SERMON ON THE MOUNT, in Pronouncing Print, that makes reading easy AND PURE PHONICS — her crowning work — Showing Kindergartners and Parents how to make child thought right and faces bright, by teaching science of speech at the very first, to youngest children. Any of above •will be promptly mailed on receipt of price named. BURNZ & CO. 94 E. 10th STREET NEW YORK, U. S. A. 124 JUL id 1956 4UM ^ & i984 OCT OlMO? rjNTVERSITY of CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY Z53 Burnz - E93i In memoriam. UCLA-Young Research Liorary Z53 .B93i y L 009 502 932 "a 001239 125 6 . BAKER :53 393i