Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-10-16
Spelling schools.

i We select the following pleasant deserp
ton of a regular, old-fashioned Spelling
fSchool, from an exceedingly pleasant book,
january and June" recently published by
i Samuel Huestun, New York land our friends.
i Elwood and Co., Detroit. If we mistake
mot, many welcome remembrance of by
gone times will be aroused afresh by this
description. AS for ourselves, we are car
}, RED back by it to the old red school-house
lin an eastern village, and mingle again a.
mong the merry girls and boys who, a score
L or more Of years ago, were wont to meet
j there in the clear, cold winter evenings, to
measure their skill in the photographic art.
j. Journal of Education. ri
SPELLING Schools. Have you forgot
ten them? When, from all the region
round about, they gathered in the old long
school house, with its huge fireplace, that
1yawned ike the main entrance to Ave
nues. How the sleigh bells, big in the
middle of the string, and growing s'small
by degrees, and beautifully less" toward
| the broad brass buckle-chimed in every
! direction long before night-the gathering
VI UlIC CIdSS. IuCiS CtillC OUI SCIlOOl NldS-
ter'-give him capital M, for he is enti-
! tied. to it--Master and all, bounded into
one huge red double-sleigh, strewn with an
abundance of good straw, and tucked up
) like Christmas pie, with half score Of
buffalo robes. There half a dozen "cut-
sters,n each with its young man and maiden,
they two and no more. And there, again
a pair Of Jumpers, mounting d great out
Ilandish looking bin, heaped up, pressed
down, running over, Scripture measure, with
small collections Of humanity, picked up
en- route, from good many houses, and
as merry as kittens in basket of WOOL
/ And the bright eyes, aud ripe red lips, that
T one caught a glimpse Of beneath those
: pink lined, quilted hoods, and the silver
laughs that escaped from the wooded muf-
} fiers and fur tippets they wore then-who
: does not remember? who can ever forget
\ them? @
The school-house destined to be the ar
cha Of the conflict, has been swept and
: garnished, boughs of evergreen adorn the
smoke-stained and battered walls The lit
tie pellets of chewed paper have all been
swept down from the cealing, and two
J pals of water have been brought from the
spring, and set on bench in the entry,
with the immemorial tin cup-a wise pro
vision, indeed, for warm work is that spell
f ling.
The Sbig boys have famed and replen-
ished the fire, till the old chimney fairly
liars with the roaring flames, and the sparks
fly out of the top like furnace-the orr
flame of the battle.
The two Masters are there; the two
schools are there and such hum, and
such a moving to and fro! Will they ever
swarm?
The oaken ferrule comes down upon the
desk with emphasis. What the roll Of the
drum is to armies, that ''ruler' is to this
whispering, laughing young troop.
The challenged are ranged on one side
Of the house, and the challangers on the
), other. Back seats, middle Seats low front
seats, are all filed. Some of the fathers
and grand fathers, who could no doubt, up
on occasion,
ssShoulder the crutch and show how fields
81 were WOH.>>
OCCUPY the bench Of honor near the desk.
| Now for the preliminaries. The repu-
4 ted best speller on each side chosen
"Susan Brown Out comes a round-eyed
, little creature, blushing like peony.--
4 Who'd have thought it; such little thing,
, and chosen first
! .sMoses Jones'" Out comes Moses, an
awkward fellow, with a shock of red hair,
shockiagly harvested surrounding his broad
brow. The girls laugh at him-but what
he dosen't know in the elementary" isn't
worth knowing.
aJane Murray Out trips Jane, fut-
tered as bride, and takes her place next
to the caller. She's pretty girl, but a
; sorry speller. Don't you hear the whispers
around the house? "Why that's Johns
;. sweetheart" John is the leader, and a
battle lost with Jane by his side, would be
!. sweater than victory won without her.
l And so they go on calling Names" I'M
til five or six champions stand forth ready
to do battle, and the contest is now fairly
! begun. Down goes one after another, as
words Of three syllables are followed by
those Of four, and those again by words of
similar pronunciations and of diverse sig
nifcations, until only Moses and Susan re-
main. The spelling book has been exhaus-
ted, yet there they stand like statutes
Dictionaries are turned over, memories
are ransacked, for
Words of learned length and laundering sound,
until, by and by, Moses came down like a
tree, and Susan fiuttcrs there still, like a
leaf aloft, that the frost and the fall have
forgotten.
4 Polysyllable follows polysyllable, and by
and by Susan hesitates, just breath or
two, and twenty tongues are working their
way through the labyrinth of letters in a
! twinkling. Little Susan sinks into the
chink left for her on the crowded seat, and
there is lull in the battle.
Then they stand in solid phalanx by
schools, and the struggle is to spell each
lother down. And down they 90, like
leaves in winter weather, and the victory
is declared for oar district, and the school
is dismissed"
Then comes the hurrying and bonding,
the whispering and glaneing, the pairing
II 4 -