The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-24 00:00:00

"A SPELLING BEE."

The American Correspondent of The Times, writing from
Philadelphia on the let inst., gives the following humorous
sketch of a "Spelling Bee" held in that city
The Session of Congress being ended, and business
not yet having thoroughly revived, the American
people have during the past few weeks been indulging
in a new pastime, which is becoming as universal as it
is popular. This is the "Spelling Bee," a new Eng-
land invention which has made rapid strides over the
country. " Spelling" for prizes is the prevailing in-
fatuation, and every town and village is having its
" bee " attended by crowds who cheer the successful
and laugh at those who are afflicted with a " bad
spell." The amusements furnished by these contests
is hearty and genuine, and nothing could be more
harmless. It is gratifying to know that the public
taste, diverted into this channel, will enjoy a temporary
relief from the almost perpetual political wrangling in
which we indulge.

The most elaborate "Spelling Bee" in this part of
the country was held at the Academy of Music, in
Philadelphia, on the evening of the 25th of March, at
least 4,000 people crowding the auditorium. The
novelty of the thing and the belief of manysthat they
could beat the "champions" added to the attractions,
and hundreds were left outside the building who could
not possibly get in. There were 80 competitors for
the six prizes offered-40 ladies and 40 gentlemen—the
majority of them being school teachers, and at 8 p.m.
they marched in procession upon the stage. The
announcement was made that the proceeds of the
entertainment would be devoted to the building fund
of a new building for the Young Men's Christian
Aibelation of this city, and after some musical and
literary selections the "bee" began. The following
were the rules :

"First The class will be composed of an equal number
of lathes and gentlemen, who will occupy opposite sides of
the stage.

"Seccind. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary will be the
standard.
"Third. The spelling will be oral.
"Fourth. Words spelt more than one way by Webster
Will be omitted.
"Fifth. No word will be used consecutively.
"Sixth. One word mispelled rules the mispeller out.
"Seventh. Any competitor misunderstanding a word
may ask one repetition, if no attempt at spelling the word
has been previously made."
A teacher of elocution gave out the words in a loud
voice, the audience watching with close attention.
"Difference," " dialogue," corrigible," "chirography,"
"alibi," "aggregate," and " varioloid "were announced
one after another, and were all spelt correctly, a lady and
gentleman being alternately selected. Then " muske-
teer " fell to the lot of a young lady, who spelt it
muscateer," when a roar from the audience announced
her failure, and she blushingly stepped out of the class.
A dozen more words were spelt correctly, when " ex-
citation " brought down the first young man, who
made a dash at it with " ecci " and got no further as
the sly uts of the audience drowned his voice. " G-our-
mand " spoilt the fortune <-4 another man. Then
there was some correct spelling until " duellist " came
along, and, of course, killed his man, who was un-
certain about the "l's," " benison " acquired a new
meaning for a lady; " hloroform " quieted a youth;
" perigrination " was what the next champion per-
formed, and " tympan " was too discordant for a lady's
ears. The class seetned to be getting demoralized, so
rapidly were victims stricken down. "Inconceivable,"
"financial," "tureen," and "anglicise" each laid out
a speller; and then a discussion arose about the pro-
nounciation of the elocutionist who gave out the words.
It was demanded that some one else should take his
place, and there were hisses and cheers, dozens rising
in the audience and arguing the, question at once.
Then there were cries of "go on, and order being
restored the competition continued. Two or three
words were spelt when " addible" was given out, and
a lady began " addi " and then over again " adi,"
and was ruled out for trying a second time.
" Flunkeyism" brought down a victim '• as also did
"recision" and "quasi." Then a gentleman spelt
" reseat" for another word that was pronounced the
same way (receipt), and the Committee ruling him out
there was a great disturbance. The gentleman would
not "go out," claiming it was a double-header,"
and that he spelt it right, and on his appealing to the
audience, the vast crowd, with an unanimous shout,
decided that he should be kept in, and so he re-
mained. Then victims again became numerous.
" Forocityt" " contumaceous," " delequese," " covit-
ous," " impetous," " deturgent," " inscence,"
and " hippish" decimated the ranks. Thus the
contest went on, there being several rather arbi-
trary decisions against the spellers on double-headed
words. "Psalmody" was given out, and a young
man got as far as " s-a-m" when the shouts of
the audience bowled him out. " Pennylcss," "rarify,"
" obelisque," "antechrist," and trameling" re-
tired four meli and a lady. Then a very confident
gentleman failed on " einthesis," his defeat being
heartily relished. Next a lady halted on "eighty-
eighth." " Corruscation " was too much for the next
customer. The class was now getting sman, and long
and difficult words were selected, nearly every one,
however, being spelt correctly. At long intervals a
victim was brought down amid general laughter, such
conundrums as synonomous," chinchilla," " chriso-
lite," "colocinth," " imbrument," and " polyanthes "
proving too much for them. Then the class was
reduced to the six to whom prizes were to be awarded
—four ladies and two gentlemen, and the competition
was continued to see which would live the longest.
" Purview " took number six' a lady; " testacious "
number five, a gentleman who bad made a great deal
of amusement and whose downfall was most warmly
received. Now were left three ladies aud one gentle w an,
but they survived but a short time, "dietension" being
too much for the man, and " infinitessimal " and
" hauser " for two women. A lady, as usual, had the
last word, remaining alone on the stage, and to her
(Miss Lizzie J. Rook), amid loud- applause, was
awarded the first prize. The three ladies who got the
highest prizes were Philadelphia school-teachers. The
gontloroah who mulivoci tho lougoot WM called upon
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