New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-14
hnlo from lnother go - 80 y

o."
iLat they generally have neno5y mare i.ted n.
catching AID holding Hosds and othc, signs al
dressed ~ tbs eye, tIdl tl.A Gtarr sex 'F1t,,si
aJ lie Eaaa las St1di,'. Les spelling lesson. mi;
size 8 as coaa ieat 81 egety et1ul az H., i.Itfrrsl
Perry limsei! Sle can spai every Word ia -
cclauH IN ;fe eflef II lands 81 ithous the maste--
past. ing i cut, Sic bas been over /. 50 ma
TINS. VOW, ar. d@i1e', SCI M AGAIN If yol
car, .tllhs Harriet, ! ply y0u, poor si-I ;,
James has an ely .haE vii blow over yo3- ~. -,
castie N tue ar. Old Bofsas, tae k;pe * -
winds vi order ont Snow storm by and Nv. ~
block up the roads 50 that none bus boc,sj ~ ~
weathef-proot males caa GET 10 school and ,ssn
Miss, mast lose day OF tH1, ana then h. -, 80
self q, the foot with those bloekhesd bo3' oSs;
always abide there But let 1t not b. tS,. WIG
TINT all those foot LADS are deficient IN in,aj1olS
Look a. them when the masters back i rr..9eI'
and you wall see lnischieYous ingenuity .,IieN'
convince you that they might surpass sys1 $50 -
and Harriet, had some other faculties hsn, ines
into exercise beside the mere memory a. oa,.ea
ties. 'V'Oa'
The most extraordinary spelling. and odd,
readIp8 machine IN our school Was boy whom
shall call Memoirs W orjweli. 10 was 81
and wonderful in The acquisition and ,ecso, ihaislsy
OF words-ot signs without the IDEAS s;nr;ssS
The alphabet he acquired at home before E, n.
two years Old. What exultatiop of rn..H mss
/ what exclamation from admiring visitors . rbns,
was never anything like it. He had aI,,os, "e sa
compllshed his Abs before he was tbonnb, az ~,
enough for school. At an earlier age than ns U,T
however, ne was SENT and then he went from
acre 10 -t0oHl1nat'on IN half the summers and
winters It took the rest of Ms IN %, o,,r- -, = 80
space, Astonishing how quickly he r,ss, 1919
column after column, section after secton ~ ab
stihate photographers. These marital terms 7
nave Just used, together with our hero's reloritv
put iue III mind OF Caesar. So will nQot, MIN
iehlorIs might have said in respect 20 the host of
the spelling book, 81 came | saw. connaercd .
he generally stood at the head Of a class rorb
one OF whom was two years his elder Poor rrca.
lures they studied hard some of them. bu, i Ala
no good. Memorus Wordwell was born 10 be
ABOVE them as some men are said to have been
p" born to command" AT the public examination
OF ms first winter the people OF the dis,ri,., and
even the minister thought it marvellous that such
monstrous great words should be mastered hy
such eetle mite OF boy Memorns was
mighty also, III saying those after spelling matters
the Key, the Authorizations the Punctuation.
DC. These things were deemed of grea. account
to De laid up in remembrance, although they were
all very lmperteCtly understood and some of them
not understood at ALL
Punctuation-how many hours, days aad even
weeks, have tugged away to lift, as it were, to
rol! up into the store house OF my memory, the
many long, heavy sentences comprehended under
this title Only survey we use this word when
speaking Of considerable space and bulk)-only
survey the first sentence, transcript of which
will cndeavor to locate in these narrow bounds
/ would have my readers Of the rising generation
know what mighty labors we little creatures of
FIVE six, and seven years old were set to perform:
Punctuation is the art of pointing, or OF di-
vdng discourse into periods by points, express.
ing the pauses to be made in the reading thereof,
and regulating the cadence or elevation Of the
voice.
There, have labored weeks ON that, for al
ways had the lamentable defect of mind not to be
able to commit to memory what did not under
stand. My teachers neveraided me with the least
explanation OF the abovecopied sentence, nor Of
other reading OF a similar character, which was
likewise to be committed to memory, But this
and all was nothing, as it were, to Memoms Word
we'll He was very Hercules in this wilderness
of words.
Master Wordwel was a remarkable reader, too.
He could rattle off word as extensive as the
name of Russian noble, when he was bat FIVE
years old, as easily as the schoolmaster himself
He can read in the hardest chapters Of the les.
lament as last again as | can, said his mother
8" never did see nothin beat it., exclaimed his
father he speaks up as loud as minister
But | have said enough about this prodigy I
have said thus much, because, although he was
thought so surprisingly bright he was the most
decided ninny in the school. The fact is, ne Al
not know what the sounds he uttered meant. Il
never entered his head, nor the heads Of his pa
rents and most of teachers, that words and sent
ences were written, and should be read, only TO
be understood. He lost some OF his reputation,
however, when he grew up toward twentyone,
and it was found that numbers, in more senaes
than one, were far above him in arithmetic.
One little anecdote about Memorus Wordwel
before we let him go, and this long chapter shall
be no longer.
1t happened one day that the ".cut and split
for the fire fell short, and Jonas Patch was out
welding the axe in school time. He had been at
work about half an hour, when Memorus, who
was perceived to have less to do than the rest,
was sent out to take his place. He vas about
ten years DID, and four years younger than Jonas
" Mem0rus, you may 90 out and spell Jonas
Our hero did not think of the Yankee sense IN
which the master used the word spell indeed
he had never attached but one meaning to Il,
whenever it was used with reference to himself.
He supposed the master was granting hml nae
extraordinary on his fayorte hobby: 90 ne put
bis spelling. book under his arm, and was out ~
the woodpilc with the speed OF BOY fush'nB !"
play. =, ., ii.
''Yo got yer spellin lesson, Jonas?p was hls
Grst SANITATION. . Have MT looked at it yit, was
the reply " | mean to cut up this plaSqy sIeas
log speilin or no spellin, before go in. mad as
ieye keep warm here chopin wood az freeze Ire ap
there in that tarnal cold back seat w en- tlS
We put aV out the words and RI spell Meme
luS tu3 TINT he was really sent out on this err
COUP 81, deputy spelling master mounted the
top a Of the wood pile, just in front Of Jonas TO put
ont words to his temporary pupil who still kept
on putting out chips.
do you know where the lesson begins, Jo'
1as ," ''No, don't but spose shall ind out
low." Well, here It's They both Belonged
o the same Glass; "Spell A-bom.i-na ton" 10.
las spells. Ab-o-m BON abom lin the mean time
up goes the axe nigh in airl a-bom-i down 1t
GOES again chuck into the wood ma ma a-bom.l.
IA tup it goes again ti.on tion, abomi.na tom
,huck the axe goes again, and at the game time
1ut HES a furious chip, and hits Memoras on the
nose AT this moment the master aPRea on ast
lt 10 IN The threshold "Jonas, why don't yon
come sC 0i in 'P didn't send Memorus out TO spell
soa7 Yes, sir, and he has been spelling B me-
his the masters eye caught Memoras perched
Inon the top.atick, with his book open upon his