The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1873-07-17
Teachers Department.
from the Hamilton o. Telegraph
The Spelling Match.

rs that of philology; and there is no
study which can open to the stu
dent more inviting field. Ours is
composite language, to the making
Of which almost every language has
contributed, and hence,in ours, more
than in any other, the necessity ex-
lists for study of the parentage of its
words, if those words are to be sig
used Men daily use hun
dreds of words ofthe origin andmean-
ing of which they are utterly ignor-
ant. They do not seem to know
that words, like children, grow and
change, and that the meaning which
may attach to a word to-day, is as
different from the meaning the word
has had, as the man of to-day is un-
like the child he was forty years ago.
How many, for instance, who use
the word, know that circulation"
meant nothing more than the thresh-
ing out of wheat with fails, until the
persecution of Christians gave it its
deeper significance; that funeral
means nothing but a burning rope
the Romans carried when they burn
ed q dead body; that a candidate
was once so called because, when
soliciting Office, he dressed in white;
that 'Senate" was once an assembly
of old men; that ''to subjugate" was
literally to 'go under the yoke; that
"clerk once meant priest, then
a scholar, and again clergyman,
and that in law, in England, q clergy
man is still called a clerk; that a
Secretary" once meant one to whom
secrets were confded; that ''para-
phrernalia' once meant that which q
woman brought to her husband IN
excess of her dowry; that Hderrick
got its name from a noted hangman
of that name. And if we are iSno-
rant of the meaning of the word
itself, it follows that the chances are
very much in favor of our blundering
in its orthoepy and orthography; and
so it happens daily that we mispro-
nounce and misspel our words.
Why it should be considered more
objectionable to do the latter than
the former we are unprepared to
say; but certain it is that errors of
pronunciation are regarded as triVl-
al matters, while no one cares to be
regarded as an incorrect speller.
And yet the sinners against orthog-
raphy are much more numerous than
those who violate the laws of pro-
nounciation; and the proof of this
assertion is this, that the person who
habitually writes his words properly
will continually blunder when called
upon to spell them orally.
And this is the reason why the
class that competed for the prizes, at
Beckett's Hall, last Friday night, was
so small. Of the twenty-eight per
sons in it, it is not too much to say
that each of them can seat himself or
herself at desk and write page after
page without misspelling word; for
here the eye comes to his aid and
detects the mistake, if mistake be
made; but they lose their ally when
they spell orally, and they fell one
after another under such words as
believe, invitation, wholly, ensuing,
cipher, subtlety, curfew, allowed,
emir, coign, civilian, penance, and
many other words, until finally the
contest was narrowed down to Miss
Rose, of our city, and Miss Rifel, of
Fairfield township, between whom an
animated contest was for some time
maintained, until Miss Rose fell un-
der the word tranquility" leaving
Miss Riffel possessor of the field
she receiving copy of Webster's
Unabridged, and Miss Rose an ele-
CANT copy of SCOTS Poetical Works.
: The "hard spelling class" did not
meet the expectations it had created;
but few entered it, and after short
contest the prize-a spelling book
was awarded to John B. Lawder as
the champion ''hard speller-" The
Judges then had a bout, the condi-
tions being that the hardest speller
should be responsible for the price
of a barrel of four-then in the room
to be donated to the Children s
Home.
The judges of the evening were
Re-. D. J. Starr, W. E. Brown, DR.
Falconer and Col. Moore; Prof. Ellis
gave out the words. The hall was
crowded, many coming in from the
country, and the managers realized
about 800 from the sale of tickets,
which sum was increased by Mr.. Job
E. Owens, who gave practical Illus
tration of his ability to spell ten
dollar bill.