THE BUGLE CALL - Mr. Bayne’s Letter To the Pupils of Public School No. 5: This year we have been making an earnest effort in many of the classes toward forming good habits—habits of conduct, of good manners, of study, of thought. Some boys have shown re- markable improvement in habit forma- tion, particularly in the matter of per- sonal cleanliness. This is as it should be. The habit of being clean is the first step towards creating self-respect, and unless a boy respects himself, he need expect no one else to respect him. For this improvement we are very thankful. I want to draw your attention to a habit which is most difficult to acquire but which is most valuable when once we possess it. It is the habit of using good English, It is most valuable be- cause it enables us to take our place among well educated people and aids us in holding that self-respect which is nee- essary to our progress in life. Ask any employer which he prefers for his employee, the slang user, or the speaker of good English, and the answer will undoubtedly be in favor of the user of good English. Slang, careless un- grammatical expressions, slovenly pro- nuneiations are marks of the person who lacks pride in himself; of the person who does not know better, or of the one who does know better and is too timid or weak to speak correctly. If you use poor English, to which of these classes do you belong? 1. To the “don’t care” class, or 2. To the “don't know” class, or 3. To the “don’t dare” class. There are very few of you who “don't know” about your incorrect manners of speech. This T say because I have but to ask an offender to repeat what he has said and with no further reminder on my part he correct his error. I might have added a fourth class of users of poor English and called it the “don’t think” class, These are the peo- ple who know better but don’t think. In it I fear many of our boys and girls of P. S. No. 5 would have to place them- selves. Now what can you do? If you really care about your speech being correct, won't you try to form a habit? How? First of all by taking care to see that your pronunciations of common words are clear and distinct. You will find at the end of this letter a list of words which the pupils of our school mispro- nounce most frequently, They are what I call the “Pronunciation Sins of P. S. 5.” Try to see that none of these sins is yours. Take the list home. Ask mother or father to go over them with you at home. Ask your parents to help you by watching your speech and cor- recting you when necessary. Take note of the errors of others. Don’t be afraid of being corrected, it is all for your own good, and finally don’t be afraid of being precise in your speech even if others are careless. It is easy to fall into the habit of imitating others. It won't do others any harm to hear cor- rect pronunciation, and it will not do you any harm to be known as a speaker of good English. A little later this coming term we are planning to give every pupil a copy of the “P. S. No. 5 Text Book,” in which we hope to show what are the more com- mon mistakes in English made by the pupils of our school. I hope you will make use of this litthe pamphlet. It ought to be valuable because it will tell tus what our faults are, and knowing our faults, it ought not be difficult to do away with them, In the meantime, I hope every one of you will make a firm resolution to join the new club of P. S. 5—“The good Eng- lish Club.” The only pledge of mem- bership will be, “I promise to try to speak good English at all times.”THE BUGLE CALL Mispronunciations. little yesterday windows municipal and accept next bade ate oil brought boon partner certain burning scissors curtain children suggestion don’t you drowned then eleven dare not those father engine that forty first throw girl genuine threw innocent give me world kept into what length last won't you matter library you New York mother always of ninety attacked our often brother pretty party catch shirt says city than strength dog these think eighth this Tuesday’ family through theatre for thirty thirteen geography was together history which when just went wish let me want to with mischievous yes your nothing ing against my beginning arithmetic once doing bird picture drawing can saw drinking chimney the going desk ‘toward moving early though h playing every thoroug! running riety tung, feathers voice ows get work bellows heard where follows Ttalian word fellows latter