The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-03-25
OLD TINE SPELLING MATCH.
Twenty-six Candidates in Line---FniIure of
Twenty-Five to take the Prizc---Astonisb-
ing Amendments TO Webster.

| Cwcnty-slx SHuUluntes IN IItnc---FnfIure oil
| Twenty-Five to take the Prizc---Astonisl-
| ing Amendments TO Webster.
! On Staten Island an old-fashioned
spelling match was held, and it is thus
| described.
The room was crowded, and every face
was expectant with the expression of
hope of being called, if only for the
pleasure of having chance to refuse,
and this interest did not cease until
name after name had been called, and
eleven gentlemen were ranged in each
! opposing army. Then Mr. Eadie led O
lady to his side, and while Mr.. Sexton
looked on in dismay, Mr.. Herman Brown
of Wall street, one of Mr.. Sexton's
men, balanced the honors by securing
another lady and leading her to his seat.
| Two more were afterward induced to
compete, and then the twenty-six spoilers
were ready for work.
Embarrassment was the first word
given out by Pioneer Sprague. "E-m-
b-a double r-a-double s-m-e-n-t," quickly
reptied Mr.. Sexton. "Intelligible, !"
said the pioneer. I-n-iu-t-e-l- -l-tel-intel-
Observation-Disclosures -ble--in-
telligible," responded Mr.. Eadie, amid
the applause of the house.
So things ran smoothly on until one
of Mr.. Eadie's men tried to make
t-y-r-a-n-i-c-l-e spell "tyrannical, +"
and Mr. Sprague invited him to step
down and out. "A-q-u-e-s" for
Gao u-e-o-u-s" cost Mr.. Sections army
a man, and "e-x-h-il-l-i-r-a-t-e" carried
off another. "D-i-s-c-e-r-n-a.b-l-e" and
"i-r-r-e-p-r-a-b-l-e" paired with each
other, one staying soldier of Eadie's,
and the other knocking down and out
very disgusted man who had been
spelling with more confidence than
correctness.
Then came word over which the de-
bate ran high and warm. A-p-o-s-t-a-c-y"
was the way an Eadie man spelled it, and
when the pioneer announced that it was
wrong, there was rebellion everywhere
in the air. There were many speakers
| to uphold the unfortunate speller, and
the poor pedagogue who had ruled other
wise was in a hopeless minority until q
Websters Unabridged proved that he
was right. Then Mr.. Brown, of Wall
street, rallied around him with an 81
told you SO.
Oscillate was the next word that
brought death in the camps, and it killed
the man dead who tried hard to spell it
with one |, and indirectly deprived Mr..
Eadic of one of his ladies', who took it
for model for the word "ossify," which
she Tgumentatively dissected into
" o-s-c-i-f-y."
When the truth was forced upon the
house. that her logic was bad, and that
her effort would not satisfy the demands
of photography, there was look of
stunned dismay on the faces of more
easy to read in their eyaa q HShat SIa !. s ~us ',
language coming to. if such gigantic
reasoning won't master it p
In the moment of confusion Mr.. Sex
ton missed an easy word, and as he step
ped down and out, resigned the leader
ship of his band to a pale-faced man,
who tried to palm off "i-d-i-o-s-y-n-
c-r-a-c-y" as all right, and who was COM
PEELED in consequence to yield his place
to a young lady who wore pink rose at
! her neck. "C-i-s-m-a-t-i-c and "a-s-
| ca s-s-i-n-a-t-e" were the nets which
entangled two phonetic spoilers, and one
| too many Is carried off another of Mr..
| Sexton's party.
A-l-l-e-d-g-e, called out ono gentle
man i'll response to the pioneers call, and
! he was asked to step down. He de-
INJURED, and friends rallied around him,
but still the pioneer would not succumb
until q reference to the dictionary showed
an old but satisfactory authority for the
gentleman's method. Then some misera-
BILE boys in the gallery, failing to sympa-
thize with their discounted teacher,
started shrill, exasperating hiss, which
made the pedagogue's face for the mo-
ment brighter than his hair.
81 have personal statement" said
he, savagely, "to make to those boys
who hissed," and he looked very much
with the ferule at the very earliest school
session. "That way of spelling allege,
he continued, SIS more than fifty years
old, but is admissible.
At this stage the losses on both sides
were equal, but there were only ten left
of the original twenty-six. " JON
d-e-n-s-c-e-n-s-i-o-n" and "p .e-r-s-p-i-c-a.
c-o-u-s" made the opposing parties four
to four, and "p-l-e-b-i-a-n and "s-i-b-i-P
left them three to three, besides depriv'
ing each of its leader.
"I-c-t-h-y-o-l-o-g-y," slowly spelled
Mr.. Brown, and when he was warned
that he should have used another h, he
cried out: 81 meant to put 1t IN, indeed
1 did," But his plea availed him moth
ing, and he looked sadly at his diminish
ed colleagues as he moved away, and
then glanced at his opponents across the
room, who just then lost a man OF
"m-i-g-a-o-n-e-t-t-e."
Mr.. Cary and Mrs. Ford then were
left to contest the victory with Messrs
Simonton and Bend. The lady hat
spelled promptly and well, but "m-i-l
l-e-n-i-a-l" it was that beat her, anC
"h-e-m-o-r-a-g-e" carried off Mr., Bend
Mr.. Simonton spelled diphtheri
"d-i-p-t-h-e-r-i-a," and was upheld b,
the pioneer, but confessedly failed OIL
"innuendo," from which he omitted al
n, leaving Mr.. Cary, lawyer of 60 Wal
! street, sole survivor and, therefore, win
{ ner of the prize offered, which consiste'
I of set of Macaulay's History of Eng
| land or Webster's Unabridged, at tn
) option of the victor.