The Portland daily press., 1875-04-30

Terrible list of Killed and Wounded
ETC., ETC., etc.
| All of the spelling matches held here and
| there in vestrys and churches, were but mere
| skirmishes before the general battle which
took place at City Hall last night. All classes
| of bright and learned people were IN the aud
| fence the venerable gentlemen and ladies OF
threescore and possibly ten taking as deep an
| interest in the contest as the girls and boys OF
| the grammar schools The first race-class, we
mean.-was called at eight clock Rev. DR..
| Smaller presided, and Messrs. Patten of the
| High School, c. F. Libby of the School Com
| mittee. and Burrage of the Advocate, acted as
umpires. The first class was composed of
| Susie Dennison, and nine boys under thirteen
wears of age. The prize was S. greenback,
| and this rule was announced far the ntest:
The first class will be tested in English words
| in common use; each speller, upon failure, to
retire from the class.
Mr.. Pullen gave out the words, which were
taken from spelling book evidently used in
the,schoos. The lads were a little off their
guard at first three going down on the first
round, one boy failing on 'laurel," evidently
not ambitious respecting that ornamentation.
During the next three rounds two or three
more went down, but when the class was re-
duced to five and each little fellow rolled off
the words jast as if he was walking spelling
book newly revised. After fifteen minutes
there were left standing Susie Dennison and
two boys. The master rang all the changes of
gauge "sege," charged them with 'rhino-
= 10 sJra 1,,t offao
the master began to look about for those fam
GUS lists. The words fell thick and fast, but
each of the three snapped them up with
half defiant air that pleased the audience. At
ter hundred had been disposed Of he beguiled
the biggest boy on "scarlatina." He did it
with an &C." Susie took the next word
without skip, and then 'erysipelas" seized
the little Butler boy. and like many others he
fell victim to that dreadful disease, leaving
the single girl the victor.
The second class was then called. 1t en-
braced long list of lawyers, teachers and
famous spoilers. Among them was our veneer
able citizen, Mr.. Abner Lowell. The class
numbered thlrty-nine. The following rule was
announced for the contest:
The second class will be tested in all words
in English literature except those purely tech
meal, personal and geographical proper names
and words obsolete; each speller, upon missing,
to retire.
Mr. A. E. Chase pronounced the words, and
he came upon the platform with speper and
memorandum book, which the class eyed sus-
pciously. Digging" was the first word.
1t came to young man. The next moment
he was sdiggin' off the platform. "Guagable"
i Tall ic co
faulty in his business that he missed "hlam-
able'' and the Register of Probate is SO
"peaceable' man that he has no need to spell
that word and consequently missed it. A
bright teacher went "hying' off the platform
to the audience just as Gov. Dingley did with
the same word at Lewiston. A full grown
young man was conquered by nursing"
the plurals of words ending in so sent sew
eral good spoilers to the rear. Mr.. Hunt Of
the Advertiser, didn't find peace in tranquil
lity'' with one 'I,'' while lawyer Bonney,
after conquering many hard word, was
found wanting in the make up of his "cargoes."
Mr.. Brunei after laying out the toughest OF
Mr.. Chase's photographed enlgmas, retired
the ''driest' man in the crowd. "Gasify" got
Mr.. Marks, and shortly after Mr. Deering
1OuQu HIS ldbb NY tu0 SdluO luoiuiouo OhOnJ'
Soon Edgar Yates and Miss Lucy A. Lynch
stood alone. Mr.. Chase hurled the words like
hail, now in ten syllables, now two, but all
very hard, because the greater part were woids
ending in sing, ance, ence, ent, etc" After
a hundred or more had been given, Yates got
too much st" in benefting, and Miss Lucy A.
Lynch became the possessor of "Webster's
Unabridged"
1t was now $40, but it was decided to call
the third class, which was to spell all kinds of
words used in English literature except those
obsolete. The class was to spell twenty min
utes when all those who had missed were to
leave at once. The class was nearly as large
as the first. Mr.. Chase took the memoran-
DUN book, and half of the spoilers including
some of the best went out at the end of that
time Lawyer Hale was disguised that such
a word as "sennight'' is used when week is
better. When there were nine Of the class
left, three represented the PRESS.
Soon one of these was declared out on ''cavil-
ous" spelling it with two ops" He had taken
his seat among the vanquished, but the UNI
pires declared that some good people, called
authorities, spelled it that way and he returned
to the contest. But our banner was not long to
wave one went out on Comfortable" and Marks
soon followed, the victim of 'chiropodist
Now the contest waged hot; Major Land fell
with his face to the foe, but the aforesaid wasn't
his'n. Now there were but three. Ethereal
badly remarked the word-giver to our chief
seth. e-r-i-a-p' quoth he, carlessly, and the
PRESS banner trailed in the dust. Now Miss
Burgess and Mr.. Deering stood alone.s Mr.
Chase propounded the most malicious of his
direful list These were captured. "Hymen-
eal," remarked Mr.. Chase with rising infiec-
ton. Miss b. is teacher, and isn't evidently
thinking of it, Mr.. Deering got the silver cup,
which we hoped the lady would wiz.
1t was half past ten. William turned off the
gas. There were about 600 present.
ST. LAWRENCE STREET.
A spelling match was held at this church
last evening Mr.. c. Holland gave out the
words In the children's class the silver dollar
was won by Charlotte Duffett In the ad-
vanced class a copy of Longfelow's poems was
won by Albert Merrill. Capt. E. FL. Waite
got the primer.