The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-06-03
M,rk Twain on Spelling Matches.

A. recent spelling-match at Hartford,
,nS;ch Gen. Hawley, Judge Carpenter
III M ntber local celebrities were partlcl-
a'i1 1.~ y . feature of the entertainment was an
Pa..Jnctorv speech by Samuel l.. Gle
ins,S i',sns Mark Twain). He said:
my, Ja9ics and GentJemen-I have been
i,norod with the Office of introducing these
nU,Ir o,,roacbing photographed solemnities with
ar q f,w remarks. The temperance crusade
" r,.o,,t -o the land some time ago-that Is, that
s,,t s"ti nortion of the land where it was needed
lint it skipped Hartford. Now comes
tIiy new spelling epidemic, and this thine
sre are are stricken SO suppose We needed
tbo affection. I don't say we needed it,
fnr 7 don't see any use in spelling word
,;alt-and never did | mean | don't see
anr usc in having a uniform and arbitrary
w w5y of spelling words. We might as well
,,otcoIl clothes alike and cook all dishes alike.
Sameness is tireseme variety is pleasing. |
have correspondent whose letters are al
u,,vs 2 refreshment to me, there is such a
Lr:czv unfettered originality about his or
biography. He always spells Kow with
= large X. Now that is just as good as to
.oou il with small one. 1t is better. 1t
Gives the imagination broader field, a
wider scope. 1t suggests to the mind
Grand. vague, impressive new kind of COW.
Superb effects can be produced by variega
ted spelling. Now there is Blind Tom,
the musical prodigy. He always spells
word according to the sound that Is carried
10 his ear. And he is an enthusiast in
orthocraphy. When you give him word,
he shouts it OUTPUTS all his soul into 1t.
I once heard him called upon to spell
orang outang before an audience. He said,
80. rang, ,orang, gel, ger, Granger, tang,
tanc. orange GER tang p Now body can
respect an orang -outang that spells his name
in vigorous way like that. But the fee
ble dictionary makes mere kitten of him.
In the old times people spelled just as they
pleased. That was the right idea. You
had two chances at a stranger then. You
knew a strong man from a weak one by his
iron-clad spelling, and his handwriting
helpcd YOU to verify your verdict.
Some people have an idea that correct
spelling can be taught-and taught to any
body. That Is Il mistake. The spelling
faculty is born in man, Ike poetry, music,
and art. 1t is a gift it is a talent. Peo-
ple who have this gift in a high degree,
only need to see a word once in print, and
it is forever photographed upon their mem
orv. They can not forget it. People who
haven't it must be content to spell more or
less like-like thunder-and expect to
splinter the dictionary wherever their or
biographical lightning happens to strike
There are 114,000 words i'll the unabridged
dictionary. know a lady who can spell
only $50 of them right. She steers clear
of all the rest. She can't learn any more.
So her letters always consist of those con-
stantly recurring $50 words. Now and
then. when she finds herself obliged to
write upon a subject which necessitates the
use of some other words, she-well, she
don't write on that subject. | have a re-
lative in New York who is almost sub
timely gifted. She can't spell any word
right. There is a game called Verbarium,
4 dozen people are each provided with a
sheet of paper, across the top Of which Is
written a long word ike kaleidoscopical,
or something like that, and the game is to
see who can make up the most words out
of that in three minutes, always beginning
with the initial letter of that word. Upon
one occasion the word chosen was Golfer
dam. When time was called everybody
had built from five to twenty words except
this young lady. She only had one word
calf. We all studied a moment and then
said, why there is no l in coferdam." "
Then we examined her paper. To the
eternal honor of that uninspired, uncon-
scious, sublimely Independent soul be it said,
she had spelt that word "caff p If anybody
here can spell calf any more sensibly than
that, let him step to the front and take his
milk.