The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1874-12-11

On Monday evening. saws the Cleveland
Herald. a regular old-fIshioned spelling
school was held az the Woodland Avenue
Presbyterian Church. The first was held
last week. by way Of experiment. and the
affair was 20 exceedingly enjoyable and
satisfactory that il was determined To have
another. Notwithstanding the extreme
inclemency Of the weather, there was 4
large attendance. embracing all classes,
old and Young. The school was con-
Quoted upon the same misunderstanding
the sleigh-riding and '-sparking''-as in
1.-The country" where, as l. we'll known.
the Spelling-school j. one OF the most
cherished winter institutions.
shortly before ; O'Clock, the choosing
sides began, n young lady and gentleman
having volunteered 10 organize and lead
the opposing forces through the wordy
combat. AL were urged To participate. but
many with one consent began 10 make
excuse and were a prolific In excuses as
those told OF in the Bible, who were invi-
ted 20 the marriage supper. A Herald re-
porter who had just dropped In 70 ''see
the fun was pressed into service, the
managers declaring that no excuse would
De accepted from him. A Ledger chap
who was present was similarly beset, but
he firmly declared he wouldn't, and that
was 1.-The end ont" and they were COM
PEELED 20 raise the siege and ''let him of. +"
lie consented. however, 20 act a. ''ref-
cree
At length. when the audience had been
pumped dry"-as the boss declared--it
was found that forty-six, twenty-three on
each side, were In line, eager for the fray
Among them were leading minister
VINO enjoys the reputation OF being one of
"A county official. bank cashier. half a
dozen school-teachers. and many we'll
known residents OF both sexes. A con-
siderable number were pupils of the public
schools. and some OF these showed that
they were mo slouches' at spelling either.
On account Of the mutations of school
text-books-the spelling-books in use
when those who are now men and women
went TO school In pinafOres and pantalets
having long since gone out of date-and
the differences Of authority i'm photography
it was agreed thar. although words might
not be spelled "a in the book from which
they were pronounced. II they were spell
Ell a. authorized in the dictionary ,it should
NOT count as miss Here was where
the referee got in his work. He was fur
nished with copy Of Webster's Unabridg-
ed, and 20 him and his big book all questions
Of this nature were referred for settlement.
All the preliminaries being arranged.
time was called. and MIR. III. VI. James.
one OF the city Supervising principals. be-
gan to give cut words from '.Dewolfs
>peller," the book used in our public
schools. He went couple of times along
the lines with .'easy'' words Of two sylla-
bles, as he said, 10 give the spoilers
chance 10 recover from their embarrass-
ment and .'get their hands in.- During
the frs. fifteen minutes but two or three
words were missed. Then Mr.. James got
down To business. and scanning page after
page with his practiced eve. he selected the
more difficult words, and the slaughter be
came general. Whenever the fatal word
Next ~ was pronounced. the person who
had missed quietly slid ont and took seat
among the spectators. Now and then a
word would sweep down half dozen in a
row. leaving great gaps in the ranks. The
survivors closed up the gaps, the second
fifteen minutes witnessing the downfall of
nc least half OF the combatants.
Those remaining had generally pretty
well explored the mysteries OF English
orrhographv, and during the third quarter
the casualties became less frequent. The
master OF ceremonies turned over leaf after
leaf. keeping nm eye for .hard words, and
one by one the spoilers went down. The
cashier stood IRE nohly, but in an I'M