The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-01 00:00:00


A SPELLING BEE IN LAMBETH.

On Tuesday evening in last week there was a Spel-
ling Bee" in Miller's-lane School-room, adjoining the
Vauxhall Baptist Chapel, Upper Kennington-lane,
under the patronage, as was stated in the placards, of
Mr. Alderman W. M'Arthur. MP., and Mr. Andrew
Dunn. The room was well filled, and the Rev.
G. M. Murphy presided. There were eight prizes
—one of 2s. 6d., three of 55., two of 108., one of
1.55., and one of £l, the winners having the option
of taking money or articles of value. The Rev.
W. H. Clogg filled the office of interrogator, his
questions being addressed to upwards of sixty com-
petitors, of whom many—about a third—were ladies.
Walker's Dictionary was made the standard of
accuracy, and Mr. Dunn and Mr. Bramley were the
referees in cases of dispute. The entrance-fee was one
shilling; and it had been laid down that one mistake
should exclude the speller from further competition.
All the spelling was to be oral, and when the meaning
was asked for, it was the given. The starting word
proved too much for ft% first competitor, who spelt
" withold " with two "Vs." The next response was
"grevous " from a young lady. Then, in rather quick
succession, came failures, among other forms, in those'
of " bithouac," " eclar," " rembered," neeesary,"
" domain " for "demesne," " deaiduous," " megathy-
rium," " metemsicosus," " cuniform," "dagarotype,"
" muselage," " osilation," "parr," as the beginning of
"parallelogram," "elymosynary," "epiglotis." " erecy-
polus," " pharmacopia," " euphunitra," "
" faranaceous," and " gnonem,', instead of " gnomen."
At this stage a rather warm dispute arose between the
Chairman and the interrogator, in consequence of a
' sharp youth, apparently about twelve years old,
having spelt a well-known medical term as " haemorr-
hage," Walker's Dictionary giving "e" instead of the
, diphthong, and it being admitted by common consent
that the boy's spelling was the most correct. The
poor lad was ultimately ruled out on the ground that,
Walker having been announced beforehand as the
standard, it was absolutely necessary to abide by it.
After this came the breakdowns " hepdomidal,"
" hauri " for " houri," " solicism," "lichyen," which
a lady gave for "lichen," " logirithms," from a
gentleman, " totololiy," for "tautology," " bolletin,"
and " crochou "for croquet." There having now been
113 words and 43 misspellings, the ranks of the com-
batants were closed up, and instead of covering the
whole platform, and extending on one side to the end
of the room, they were all on part of the platform.
After a short breathing space, filled up with some
piano music, the contest re-commenced. Among the
second set of failures were " efver " as the first part of
" effervescent," " facitim," "cochetish," " cromleque,"
the competitor, a male one, confessing utter ignorance
of the word "chromlech," " chagrine," a lady patting
the fatal "e," " curomancy " for " chiromancy," &c.
Very gradually towards the last, only the best, or
at all events the most cautious and self-possessed,
remaining in the field, the competitors were reduced
to the same number as the prizes, namely, eight,
two being ladies. In the closing struggle a lady
gave " Kersonese " for " chersonese ; " a gentle-
man in spelling " adscititious " left out the "a"
in the second syllable ; another male competitor
spelt "millennium" with only one "n ; " one of the
ladies, a girl, looking about 15 or 16, failed at the word
" alkalescent ; " and, finally, the remaining lady, an
adult, triumphed over a gentleman who said "dactyl,"
by adding the " e " required by 'Walker, and thus be-
came victorious over all rivals. The successful com-
petitors were Mrs. Mturnings, Mr. H. Skeen, Miss
Warner, Mr. J. Skeen Mr. J. R Joselin, Mr. Graves,
Mr. Luke, and Mr. New, this being the order of com-
parative merit at the close. Before the meeting
separated a special prize was offered to the boy who
was ruled out on the word " hemorrhage " or " haemor-
rhage," and whose name was Sutherland, if he could
spell the word " dimresie," which he did with apparent
ease. The spelling occupied altogether about two hours