The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-01-06
GkeGatelti6qle
AN ENGLISH SPELLING BEE
Introduction Of an American
Pastime In London.

10 spectators McEo i!v' eHNVtNt'A"'' 'HASS
pence being the ordinary price, the arii
tocracy being at liberty to pay sixpenc
for a reserved seat, If they pleased. Gen
tlemcn competitors paid an entrance fe'
Of eighteen pence, ladies being udmit!eG,c
10 equal rights on payment. OF ono shiIl
ing. Eight o'clock was the hour hSeG
for the entertainment 10 commence ahG
when, shortly after that time, reverend
gentleman took tho chair, the room was
about half full. Alta given signal one.
and.twenty ladies and gentlemen hled gu,
Of u vestry near the platform. aud selected
their seats from among the six,and-twen-
~ chairs conveniently ranged in a recess
5eb;nd The chairman's table. Four-and.
twenty competitors had entered, but three
ia;IeJ TO put in an appearance. OF those
who submitted to the ordeal were four
iadios. After n few brief preliminaries
the contest began, gentleman, under
et0od to be the head master OF neigh
boring schools, undertaking the task
of Interrogation. Beginning gently
with wordsof one syllable, he got smooth
" past the first row oil candidates, but
was not well int the second before dis
aster beiell one OF the company. Asked
10 spell "peninsula" he unhesitatingly
added final "r" and, amid great cheer
ing, was handed out, and disappeared in
the ranks Of the audience. The school
master observed, in mitigation of the
offence against the accepted rules OF or.
biography, that "nine out OF ten educated
LoHdoncrs inyariable pronounce the word
as il spelled 'peninsular," sweeping
statement which will probably surprise
some people. The mode Of procedure
was that the interrogation, holding up a
slip OF paper in his hand, read therefrom
list OF words which he had apparently
prepared, putting word in turn to each
competitor. The next to stumble was n
lady, who came TO grief over the word
facade" which she ingeniously rendered
in accordance with the pronunciation by
introducing an IS" before the cedilla. On
the word "manikin" n curious incident
arose. The gentleman challenged spelled
it as it is here written, but the schoolmas.
ter insisted that the fifth letter should be
"a" instead OF a." On reference to
tho dictionary II was found that
the interrogation was wrong, and
the candidate resumed his seat to
the great satisfaction OF the audience.
But before many minutes had passed the
had terrible revenge. He
asked well-grown young man to spell
"myrrh," and received the astounding re-
Spouse, "M-u.r.h!' When the Judge in
we'll known case asked Sam Weller
how lie spelled his name, the witness re-
piled; ",rhat depends upon the taste and
fancy OF the speller, my lord" In the
course Of last nights proceedings it was
demonstrated that the dictionary does
occasionally allow some latitude; but it
was generally agreed that in this case it
had been inexcusably exceeded, and
the candidate was requested to with
draw. "Goitre" was the next word that
created difficulty. The lady whose turn
i, was to spell frankly declared that she
had "never heard of such a thing" and,
when explanations Of lis meaning were
she tried "g-o.i-t.o-u-r." which,
the schoolmaster said, would not do, and
she also retired. A few minutes later
she was Joined by the third and penulti-
mate lady, "Spcll hawscr," said the inter-
rogator blandly. "H-o.r-," began the
young lady, when roar OF daughter
checked her, and she gracefully retired.
A gentleman who had to spell parallel
ogram," tried it with two lis" an
economy which lost him his chance OF a
prize. On tho word "profusenes" the
again proved to be all
abroad, challenging the correct spelling,
and claiming that there was only one "c".
On "woeful" another controversy arose,
the question being whether the word
should be spelled "woefup or "woful,"
difficulty happily solved by the discovery
that it might be either. Agentleman re-
tired with the consciousness OF having
spelled "dissembler" with one "a" and a
lady, the last Of the sisterhood, sacrificed
her position by hankering after the let
ter &c" which she introduced in the mid
die Of the word "lodgment." A gentleman
next failed with Obsolete" which he
spelled "obselete," and another was i'm
paled on "yertex," word OF which he
had never heard. "Spell 'vertex,". said
the schoolmaster. ado you mean vortex"
anxiously inqdired the candidate. "No.
| mean vertcx." "I only know vortex"
replied the candidate, and that clearly
not being vertex, he joined the general
company. "Mezzo" proved hopeless
puzzle for the gentleman to whose lot it
fell. He pluckily tried "m-e-t-t-o," after
which there was an interval and little
singing. On the examination being rcsum-
ed, fatalities occurred with'encouraging
rapidity. "Accoutered" being tried with
single &c" disposed Of one Of the eleven
candidates; the twelfth abiect.
ly declined even to try "acquiescence,"
proving himself worse than Capt. Ragg
In that famoys spelling bee" which Mr..
Has illustrated both with pen
and pencil, allow do you spell struggled"
Ensign Famish asks his companion.
Don't know, my boy" the Captain re.
,ponded. "Twy thweeg's in it" Num-
Der 12at the Lambeth spelling bee last
night, posed with acquiescence, had not
The heart even to essay a few "s's' but
,lank ofI'the platform in glad manner
that told how deep was his despair. The
next gentleman, asked to spell "anony-
nous,e had got ms far as e.n.n:o-n-n-o.n,
when he was stopped and led oifthe plat
form. After this there was long tussle,
in which the candidates proved equal to
he most determined efforts OF the inter
rogator. Then one spelled "incorrigia-
ole," and was dismissed. Coleoptera,
spelled "colleoptera," got rid Of another,
md, after a prolonged and exciting con.
lest, the ichthyosaurus, n pleasing crea-
.ure, Of which the dictionary says that at
combines in the structure OF its skeleton
The characteristic Of u fish with those Of
crocodile" finally overcame the eight.
zenith candidate, and left the three prizes
10 be DIVIDED between the three survivors
of the struggle.
A Rcmn,Iy for Hard TriuIcS.