The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-02-15
acknowledgement
=, sno,Iiur Down "..old Times Re.
ylyed,


,,.on III. Titu.yillc Morning Herald.
Wemet n sleigh load Of boys and girls,
~, other night, few miles out oil the
s i,y O on thciF way to n spelling match"
s =, ,hc school house of neighborlng DIS.
,Ict md the jingling bells and tue merry
laughter Of the young folks mauc us i .I:
m ,", Ior n season that we had passed inc
iorcnoon of life, and We joined the happy
, ,I,onS in Imagination, and were back
amin among the scenes OF years ago,
" When cares were few, and the greatest
sorrow Of our life was to be comPcl.Giu Az. "
,lay away from spelling or singing scaooi
, cci our boots tapped, and know that
SBii ,Jones" would 60 home with our girl
oilcr the exercises Of the evening werG
ended. r,,,,, ,irirr who 1ocs
S5t nj times brush the cobwebS away from
Lis nicture of the past, and revert lon9ly
~" no tho scenes ofhis youth? lIso, let him
hc known, though we do not believe in
the unmanly feeling that prompts one 70
IHok back for all his pleasures and see only
clouds and stormy weather in the lu!urc'
But We commenced 10 talk Of spelling
schOOls-thC old.fashioned kind, held in
,bc winter evenings IN our own or neigh
borinp school houses. The latter, how
ever, were looked forward to with more
pleasure, as the usual monotony Of the oc.
casion was relieved by the excitement Of
meeting a foreign foe, and the fun OF 4 ride
under the buffalo robes to the field oil con-
test.
How "big" we used to ieel when in o
solemn manner the schOolmGster would
slep up on the rostrum, and after erasing
All traces of the days arithmetical exer-
cises upon the blackboard, that our minds
might not wander from the evenings
work sing out in that well.remembered
voice, a cross between deacon's and
heavy tragedian's, our name, coupled
with sOme, member of the opposition side,
As the two upon whom fell the honor oil
CHOOSING SIDES. ...
And what terrible consequence inter.
yened while the two pedagogues drew
cuts to sec who should have the first
choice, preparatory to selecting the chosen
two dozen who were to try and spell each
other down.
II the leader Of the "other side hap.
pened to he rival OF ours in the suit for
smiles from the rOsy.cheeked girl who
apparently had no thought for anything
save the apple she was slyly eating behind
the stove, the excitement was dOubly
great, until it was decided that zoe (iust.
think ofitD had drawn the longest straw
and were entitled to the first choice
among all the bevy Of young folks that
were scattered around tho school room.
How high we lifted onr cowhide boots
as we stepped off TO the corner Of the
room where the line OF photographed
battle was TO he formed! OF course, the
first name called was that Of our sweet.
heart, though Unjust we say it I? she was
the poorest speller in the school, and her
formation OF words would frighten the
portrait of Noah Webster from the title
page Of his first book. Butthen she was
the handsomest girl In school;he cheeks
were as red as u Baldwin apple, and her
Curls, which had been elaborately twisted
around hot poker, were natural, and be-
sides that, she had agreed to go home from
all the singing schools for a month ahead
with us; and when we had a stone
bruisG on our heel in summer who but
she could tic n rag so tenderly
around the spot? So, we repeat, we
chose her at once, and while she was trip
ping To her place Mt our side the other
leader, AS il to seek revenge and pay
court to Mars instead OF Venus, selected
for his first choice tho very best scholar
in school, y girl, who, though homcly us
lanum's "What Is It," could gnthr0ugh
the spelling book like lightning, and was
GmuCh at home among words Of seven
YlIablcs rs those OF two. Then the work
commenced, and the quota of spelling
was soon filled, though we must confess
that our mind became slightly confused
while holding "ourgirl's" hand and choos.
ing, At the same time, and our side was
weak, mentally, compared with that of
Bill Jones. o.
TIE BATTLR. ..,., ......
Alter order was obtained among the
scholars, and those who were not in the
lists had brought their angry feelings I'M.
der subsection, old Jacket Buster, as We
termed our teacher, would pull out a
dog'sCared copy OF 'WcbstCr's Elemen.
tary," whose ily-leaves had long since as.
ccnded hcavenward in the shape Of ""spit.
balls, and in voice about three keys
higher thNn his ordinary tone, proceed 10
put out the words alternately to tho two
sides. Tho contest waxed warmer, and
down went all the "smAll fry" on the
more simple words. We were only al.
lowed one trial, and the man who hcsi.
tated was irrevOcably lost, until at Inst
hut half o dozen were left on our side.
Our girl had come near going down on
tue word "CotFee," (she always commcnc.
eli itwith TX, but we had set her Alright
in whisper, though Bill Jones saw the
prompting" and would have informed
the teacher, had he not nj that moment
received a sumner in the shape of
"phthisic," which occupied his mind TO
The exclusion Of all else, but which he
would have mastered had not wad of
Chewcd paper struck him at that instant
in tho mouth, and so affected his utter.
snce rs 10 lead the master to think he had
omitted one "h, " and he sat down swear.
ing, and We had the satisfaction of seeing
Ills ears slapped with piece ofrubber for
us profanity. There were now five on the
other side and six on ours, when the
teacher OF the other school took the floor
anu we saw that there was blood in his
eye the moment he said, I'VE will now
proceed to spell tho Bible proper names"
u This exercise soon thinned our ranks.
ronr OF the enemy and one OF our forces
went down at one Shot, on "Nebuchad.
me1zar'" Our Girl" let go our hand and
SiIted on "Pharaoh" before we could
M INFORM her whether it commenced with
~ or up" and finally we keeled over
w Tue simple word Isaac, and the cham.
pIon was a small boy OF ten years, who
was named after the son of Abraham, and
Tue only word which he could spell was
ha' with which he had won the day,
GOING HOME. Ga.