St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-10-20

good eddlcatlon. put the spellin'- book
prepared by the great Daniel Webster
alongside the Bible. l do, raley. l
think | may put it ahead of the Bible.
For if it wurnt fer spellin'- books and
sich occasions as these, where would the
Bible be, should like to know The
man who got up, who compounded this
little work of ineXtricablc valoo was a
beneicctor TO the whole human race or
any other" Iere the spcctacle' fell off.
The Squire replaced them in some con-
fusion, gave the top of his head another
twist, and felt Of his glass eye, while
poor Shocky stared in wonder, and Bet
scy Short rolled from side to side at the
point Of death from the effort TO suppress
her giggle. Mrs. Means and the other
old ladies looked TIE applause they could
not speak.
81 appint Larkin Lanlam and JCcms
buchanan fer captlngs," said the Squire.
And the two young men thus named
took a stick and tossed it from hand to
hand to decide which should have the
''lirst chicc.' One tossed the stick to
the other, who held it fast Just where he
happened 10 catch il. Then the first
placed his hand above the second, and
SO the hands were alternately changed to
the top. The one who held Tie stick
last without room for the other to take
hold had "aincd the lot. This WAS tried
three times. A. Larkin held the stick
., tI,,.., t,,,,,., Ia, I,,l ,l,n
choice. lie hcsitatcd moment. Every
body looked toward tall Jim Phillips.
But L1rkin was fond of venture on
unknown seas, and - he said, Il take
the MASTER while buzz Of surprise ran
around the room, and the captain Of the
other side, as if afraid his opponent
would withdraw the choice, rctorted
quickly, and with a little smack Of cX-
ultation and defiance in his voice, ''And
/ take .Jccms Phillips"
And soon all present, except a few of
the old folks, found themselves ranged
in opposing hosts, the poor spoilers lag
eing i'll with what trace they could, at
the foot of the two divisions The Squire
opened his spelling book AMI began TO
give out words 10 the two captains, who
stood up and spelled against each other.
1t was not lunY until l.arhin spelled
"really" with one /, and Lad 10 lit down
in confusion, while 4 mu-mur of salts
faction ran through the ranks of the OPP
posing forces. Ills own side bit their
lips The sender iigurc of the young
teacher took the place OF the fallen lead
cr, and the excitement made the house
very quiet. Ralph dreaded the loss Of
influence lac would suffer ii IIc should be
easily spelled down. Aud at the mo-
ment OF ri>ing he saw in the darkest cor
ncr the figure Of u wcll-drc>>ed youmg
man sitting in the shadow 1t made
him trcmblc. Why should his evil gc-
MUS haunt him But 10y "A strong effort
he turned his attention away from Dr.
Small, and listened carefully To the
words which the Squire did not pro-
nounce very distinctly, spelling them
with extreme dchbcIation. This gave
him an air of hesitation w!.ich di>ap-
poinlcl those OH his own side. They
wanted him TO spell with da>hing as
surancc. But he did no; begin word
until hclrad mentally felt Li, way through
it. After ten minutes of spelling har!
words Jccms buchanan, the captain on
the other side. spelled ''alrocious" with
an instead OF e, and subsidized, lis
first choice. Jccms Phillips, coming up
against the teacher. This hrou@h; the
excitement 10 icvcr-hcat.
For though Ralph was chosen first, i,
was entirely ON trust, AMI most Of the
company Were disappointed. The clam
pion who nov stood up against the
schoolmas cr WAS Il famous >pcller. Jim
Phillips was tall, lank, sioop-shoul-
dcrcd fellow, " ho had never distinguished
himself in amy other pursuit than spell
in. Except in this one art of spelling
he was of no account. lie could not
catch well OF bat we'll in ball. He could
not throw well enough 10 make his mark
in that famous Western game of bull-pcn.
lie did not succeed well i'll any study
but that of Wchstcr'> Elementary. But
in that he waS-to use the usual Flat
Creek locu!ion-in that hc was "a hoss"
This genius for spelling Is in some pco-
pie Il sixth sense, Il matter of intuition.
Some spoilers are born and not made,
and their facility reminds one of the
mathematical prodigic5 that crop out
now and then TO bcwllcr the world.
Bud Means, torcsccing that Ralph would
be piltcd against Jim Phillips, had
warned lis friend tLat Jim could spell
like thunder and lightning" and it 'took
Il powerful smart >pcllcr, 10 beat him,
for he knew a heap OF spelling book. "
To have spelled down the master is
next thing TO having whipped. the big
gest bully i'll lIoopolc county, and Jim
had ''spellcd down" the last three mas
ters. He divided the hero worship Of
the district with Bud Means.
For half IN hour the Squire gave out
hard words. What blessed thing our
crooked orthography is. Without it
there could be no spelling schools. As
Ralph discovered his opponents mcttle
he became more and more cautious. lie
was now satisfied that Jim would event
ually beat him. The fellow evidently
knew more about the spelling book than
old Noah Webster himself As he stood
there, with his dull face and long sharp
nose, his hands in his pockets, and his
voice spelling iniallibly, it seemed TO
lIarisook that his superiority must lie in
his nose. Ralph's cauliousness answer
ed a double purpose. 1t enabled him to
tread surely, and it was mistaken by
Jim for weakness. Phillips was now
confident that lac should carry off the
scalp Of the fourth school-master. lie
spelled eagerly, confidently, brilliantly.