Spell “travelling,” “employee,” and divide “ser-vice.” [“Travelling” and “ser-vice” are Worcester style. Webster divides “serv-ice.”—In regard to “employee,” neither Webster nor Worcester gives it place; but, instead, the French “employé.” Webster has this note following the French word: “The English form of this word, viz., employee, though perfectly conformable to analogy, and therefore perfectly legitimate, is not sanctioned by the usage of good writers.” Since Webster’s note was written, some good writers, as in the book of Decisions above mentioned, have used the English word, as many printing-office employees can testify,—and “employé” may as well be sent home, according to the immigration laws, as unable to sustain itself in this country.[4]]
[4] Since the above remark was written, we have found “employee” admitted as a correct English word, in Worcester’s “Supplement.”
Weather Reports:
The “upper Missouri valley” [small v].
The “Mississippi river” [small r].
Geological Survey:
The “Missouri Valley” [cap. V].
The “Missouri River” [cap. R].
The proof-reader knows, that (as we have already remarked) every printing-office has a style of its own; that, if left to itself, its style would be practically uniform and always respectable,—and he soon learns that some writers for the press have very firm opinions about matters of little or no consequence, and are very tenacious, if not pugnacious, in preferring tweedledee to tweedledum; not because it is written with more e’s, but because it is more correct—in their opinion. However great may be a reader’s capacity for memorizing trifling details, it is next to impossible to keep minute verbal differences on different mental shelves. After the big book is bound, one will be likely to find a mingling of styles; the big River of one page becomes a little river on the next; “Pittsburg” here, reads “Pittsburgh” there; and the dignified “National Park” of the first chapter will dwindle to a mere “national park” in chapter the twelfth.