The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-05-06

by painful revelation Of their own
ignorance. The first spelling ma tch
came off on the evening Of the 23rd, at
the Congregational Church, and, ali though
the evening was not favorable one, yet
the talented of this and neighboring
places were out in full force TO compete
for the prizs. The order of the evening s
exercises was commenced by an instru-
mental piece, and though tho march was
a familiar one, yet its execution by Miss
Ida Wilcox held the attention Of
the waiting audience throughout. Rev.
Clspp being Gale d upon, stepped forward
and in few well chosen though
lmpromptG remarks kept the audience
in exceeding good humor by his lively
way of telling stories and his hu aorous
descriptions ofvarious spelling matches,
believing the reason why preachers never
carried away the trophies to the fact that
they were more used to preaching than
Practice.
Zera Benedict then spoke greeting"
q piece we understand to have been
composed for the occasion by Mrs.
WILDER. Eight little boys then appeared
IN dialogue. ana while the choir
discoursed sweet music, The captains, Mr..
Benedict and Mr.. Duffy, selected their
positions and prepared for The coming
battle. Owing to the excessive modesty
of most who were honored With call to
the ranks and an adherence Of anything
at all pretentious, as well perhaps as to
an admirable spirit OF generosity, know
ing that all could not spell, some little
time was consumed in securing assistan ts
But the number being swelled to eighteen
EACH. Miss Wagner came forward with
her battery, Sanders Union Speller, and
1. G. Wood accompanied by Webster.
The classes spelled by tally of side for
time and then proce 3dei to spell down.
Easy words were at first given out till
the enuucator concluded that each wa3
contid ent Of victory and sufficiently off
his guard. when there suddenly broke
upon the startled senses Of the spoilers
the sound of strange voice; voice
which, alike the rushing ofmany waters, :"
swept all before. But still they lab0red
hard The captain bore up bravely till
reading in it his death warrant, he sat
down to mourn an untinaely end. The
next. seized upon it, but did not believe
with Webster that "thera should be a
divorce between the spelling and rro-
nunciation Of a word, so it went on down
thehne where others were not SLOW IN
initiating the captains example. Tie
columns swayed to and fro, but still they
struggled on till the befuddled brain,
the dllated eye and the flushed cheek,
told that they could no more. One
thought it quite "crual" that cruel
should pass him, while another s0lem-
nized hyr>e into "hearse" Chowder
was hashed up with two DIS and glucose
wanted an S. After nearly an hour had
expired, there were but two remaining
on side, Miss Monaghan and Mrs.
Sears, and Misses Gardner and Gala
CHER. Spatts was then pronounced,
which proved finishing stroke. This
caused some satisfaction, as the word
was not TO be found in the speller used,
when the four persons. named were re-
quested to take thaic places again and
only words from the speller to be given
ouc. Eklng was then pronounced, which
sens to their seats all but Miss Gala
CHER, who remained lpvinclble for some
five minutes, during which the most
difficult words to be found in the spell
er were hurled at her and dispatched
with much celebrity. But she was finally
conquered, and being unanimously de-
clared the victor, was presented with a
handsomely bound edition Of "Cooper's
Poems" But this was not all. The
audience were not at all wearied, and
remained for about an Lour longer while
they were treated to o rich feast Of music
and continued literary exercises. The
dialogue of Mr.. Eggleston and three
young ladies, Found Dead" by Bessie
WILDER, and my Husband Chews To-
bacco' by Miss Biantha Wilcox, reflected