The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-05-15

from the operation OF the reciprocity treaty, to
make up which will be the province of the next
Legislature.
.DURING THE past winter throughout the United
State there has been a sort of mania for spelling
matches, or 80 spelling bees as they are termed,
which has reached California, and now threatens
to invade Hawaii. Ladies and gentlemen as well
as school children engage in these contests. which
are productive of much innocent fun and amuse-
ment. Sides are formed and prizes are contested
for-usually a copy of "Webster's Unabridged
which is the stendard a Propounder, or giver-
out of words is appointed, and three Referees.
The former, in giving out words, should pro-
nounce each word twice; once facing the audi
ence, then once facing the speller. He should be
thoroughly familiar with correct pronunciation;
he should give no undue, or excessive emphasis to
any unaccented syllable, and when the word
given out has the same sound as another word of
different spelling, lie should Immediately add n
brief definition of it. The Referees should each
have before him a copy of the standard authority,
which is usually Webster's Unabridged.
Ii is an undoubted fact that bad spoilers are
the majority, even among the passably well edu-
Gated. 10 spell well, it is said, is no glory, but
to spell i'll is a positive shame. But poor spoilers
are less ashamed because photographers disagree.
Worcester gives n list of more than seventeen
thousand words which he declares only a part Of
those whose photography is doubtful. Peddler is a
specimen. There IS good authority for spelling
thNt word with one Il or with two, and with one e
or with two. Worcester brings forward mani
fold diversities of spelling, and says, Pay your
money and take your choice" Poor spoilers are
perhaps the more multitudinous because many of
them, thinking it better to be guilty of two sins
than be detected in one, hide bad spelling by
worse writing. Vices go in companies. But no
mans bad spelling was ever defended better than
that of General jackson by John Randolph on
the Hoor Of the American Congress-. 1t was
charged, among other photographed peccadiloes,
that Old Hickory began Congress with a K. IF
is true, =" said Randolph, " Jackson cannot spelE
The reason is that he was fighting the enemies or
his country on the field of battle, while Webster
was making spelling-books. Jackson cannot
write well, because he was not taught. Nor can
Adams either write well. The reason is that he
was not teachable. jackson is ignorant, but he
could have got over it, if he had only a chance.
Adams had q chance, but he was a natural born
fool, and be never could get over it." Randolph's
reward was being sent as Minister to St. Peters
burg.
Now that the spelling epidemic is coming upon
the community,
sfFith many a weird and mystic spell
To catch and trip the unsary tongue
we will here quote a test which we find in an
Eastern paper, and which will serve for spoilers to
whet their appetites with. 1t is quite cleverly
arranged, with a view to presenting as many diff
cult words as possible in as small a space as posi-
bic, and there are probably few, even gifted
spoilers, who can write the whole from dictation
without making some plumbers:
The most skillful gauger 1 ever knew was a
maligned cobbler, armed with q pOniard, who
drove a peddler's wagon, using a MULLEN stalk as
an instrument Of coercion to tyrannize over his
pony shod with calks. He was a Galilean Sad
ducee, and had a phthisicky catarrh, diphtheria,
and the bilious intermittent erysipelas. a certain
Sibyl, with the s~obriquet of Gypsy went into
e~cstacies of cachinnation at seeing him measure 4
bushel of peas, and separate sacchariue tomatoes
from a heap of peeled potatoes, without dyeing
or singeing the ignitible queue which he wore, or
becoming paralyzed with a hemorrhage. Lifting
her eyes to the ceiling Of tue cupola Of the Capitol
to conceal her unparalleled embarrassment, max
lhZ q AVlEu CJlAAIog dAA uUL udIdcell2 ulm WIN
mystifying, raTefying, Supplying inuendocs, she
gave him a couch, a b0quet of lilies, miguonette,
and fuchsias, a treatise on mDemonics, a copy Of
the Apochrypha in hieroglyphics, daguerreotypes
Of Mendelssohn and Kosciusco, a kaleidoscope, a
dram phial Of ipecacuanha, a teaspOonful of
naphtha for deleble purposes, a fcrulc, clarioDet,
some l~icorice, a surcingle, a carnelian of SYM
metrical proportions, a chronometer with nova
bic balance wheel, q box OF dominoes and a cate
chism. The gauger, who was also a traficking
rectifer and a parishioner of mine, preferred a
wooden surtout This choice was referable to a
vacillating occasionally occurring idiOsyncrasyl,
wofully uttered this aPothegm Life is check
cred but schism, apOstacy, heresy and villainy
shall be punished" The Sibyl apologizingly
answered There IL ratably an allegablc diff
ference between a comfortable ellipsis and a tri-
sv1Iahir diaaresis- -