Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-01-25
/" Spelling Down."

ny ether night, a few miles out of the
s s NV on their way to a spelling match ;"
uoa ;,be school house of a neighboring dis
~. Yet and the jingling bells and the merry
g" .rgbter of the young folks made us for
~. !, for a season that we had passed the
Srenoon of life, and we joined the happy
Sronc in Imagination, and were back
me- rain among the scenes of years ago,
~, sben cares were few, and the greatest
~, ~ orrow of our life was to be compelled to
tav away from spelling or singing school
a., get our boots tapped, and know that
nv Bill Jones" would go home with our
m kirl after the exercises of the evening
tn we're ended.
: Is there an individual living who does
,ot At times brush the cobwebs away from
Thy il pictures Of the past, and revert fondly
and the scenes of his youth? If So let him
VEL . known. though we do not believe in
My he unmanly feeling that prompts one to
NJ COX back for all his pleasures, and see
W. W. caly clouds ana stormy weather IN the III
an. lure
-! But we commenced to talk of spelling
~. - chools-the old-fashioned kind, held ia
~ he winter evenings in our own or neigh
~. orng school houses. The latter, how
nj. yer were looked forward to with more
~ Measure, as the usual monotony of the
se ccssion was relieved by the excitement
!. # meeting foreign foe, and the fun of
ride under the buffalo robes to the field
Cf contest.
ii How "big" we used to feel when in sol
ID. mn manner the schoomaster would step
ne m on the rostrum, and after erasing all
a races of the days arithmetical exercises
~ non the blackboard, that our minds
~ night not wander from the evenings
= y work, siDg out in the aforementioned
:. Eoice, a cross between deacon's and a
~ heavy traged!ans, our name, coupled
III with somemember of the opposition side,
"a rs the two upon whom fell the honor of
NJ rboosng sides.
1T And what terrible suspense interviewed
while the two pedagogues drew cuts to
d bee who should have the first choice, pre-
: aaratory to selecting the chosen two
} iozen who were to try to spell each other
9 down.
If the leader of the "other side hap
pened to be a rival of ours in the suit for
miles from the rosy-cheeked girl who
apparently had no thought for anything
ave the apple she was slyly eating be-
ind the stove the excitement was doubly
reat, until it was decided that ace Gust
link of itD had drawn the longest straw
nd were entitled to the first choice among
! Eered around the school-room.
How high we lifted our cowhide boots
as we stepped off to the corner of the
Room, where the line Of photographed
hattie was to be formed! OF course, the
46rst name called was that of our sweet
heart, though must we say it?) she was
! tho poorest speller in the school, and her
Mormaton of words would brighten the
! portrat of old Noah Webster from the
. The title page of his first book. But then
She was the handsOmest girl in school;
her cheeks were as read as Baldwin ap-
pie, and her curlS, which had been elabo-
fately twisted around hot poker, were
natural and besides that, she had agreed
10 go home from all the singing schools
for month ahead with us, and when we
had a stone-bruise on our heel in summer
who but she could tie rag so tenderly
around the spot! So, we repeat it, we
chose her at once, and while she was trip
ping to her place at our side the other
leader, as if to seek revenge and pay court
10 Mars instead of Venus, selected for his
! first choice the very best scholar
in school, girl, who, though
homeIy as Barnum's "What is It,"
could 90 through the spelling book
hike lightning, and was as much at home
among words of seven syllables as those
of two. Then the work commenced, and
the quota. of spoilers was soon filled,
though we must confess that our mind be
came slightly confused while holding
'Our girls" hand and choosing at the same
time, and our side was weak, mentally,
compared with that Of Bill Jones.
After order was obtained among the
scholars, and those who were not III the
lists had brought their angry feelings UNI
der subsection, "Old jacket buster, as
We termed our teacher, would pull out
dog scared copy of Webster's Elemen-
tary,n whose fv-leavcs had long since as
cended heavenward in the form OF spit
balls and in a voice about three keys
Higher than his ordinary tone, proceed
to put out the words alternately to the
two sides. The contest waxed warmer,
and down went all the 'small fry" on the
more simple words Wewerc only allow,
ed one trial, and the man who hesitated
was irretrievably lost, until at last but
half dozen were left on side. "Our
girl" had come near going down on the
word Coffee" (she always commenced
it with X " but we had set her right
in whisper, though Bill Jones saw the
prompting" and would have informed
the teacher, had he not at that mo.
ment received sumner IN the shape Oh
phthlSlc, winch occupied MS NUN" w
the exclusion of all else, but which ne
would have mastered had not wad OF
chewed paper struck him at that instant
in the mouth, and SO affected his utter
ance as to lead the master to think he
had omitted one "h," and he sat down
swearing, and we had the satisfaction OF
seeing his ears slapped with piece OF
rubber for his profanity. There were
now five on the other side and six on ours,
when the teacher of the other school took
the floor and we saw that there was
blood in his eye the moment he said we
will now proceed to spell Bible proper
Names"
This exercise soon thinned our ranks
Four of the enemy and one OF our forces
went down at one shot, on "Nebuchadnez,
Ear" "Our girl let go of our hand anu
wilted on pharaoh" before we could IN
form her whether it commenced with T OF
T, and finally we keeled over on the SIM
pie word Isaac, and the champion was a