The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-21
= MARVELLOUS sPELLER.
he Can Spell Big Words Back ward
Like Lightning

OrClOgrapnlcai cnainp lOu OF the century
couple Of days ago. Among the stock Of
letters from "Enraged and Verbose Tax
payer" "Downtrodden but Infuriated
Voter,n and others of their kind was on,
that bore In every line the imprint q
moiesty and honest worth. Here is al
accurate production OF it:
BousHr OF A. VASDEwATER, Aor.)
Old MASONIC HALL BUILDING.
MAIN STREET.
LEATHER Betting SPECIALITY.
Ma. EDITOR: | wish to Inform you About my
Spelling backwards / can Spell any word
backwards that / can Spell forwards. and il
Comes As natural As Can be. l have beer
thinking About writing to you for long time
so finally got at 1t. / will give you Some Of
my easy words, aud then if you have mind Il
you Can put it in the Sunday World, for Inst.
DaZueTreotype, Brinckerhoffville,
Constantinopie, POughkeepsie,
Philadelphia, Brooklyn,
Cincinnati, and New York City.
My initials are K. j. N.
i. S.-Excuse paper.
Matteawan, n. Y, Feb 10, 1890.
The editor gave the letter to one of the
World reporters, and urged him to lose nc
time in hunting up F. ]. NJ. and giving him
charcs TO demonstrate his ability as @
rapid-6ring and reversible speller. SO tie
reporter got on an early irain yesterday
and went to Matteawan, n. Y. Mr.. Nande-
water pondered long time over the hand
writing ON his bill-head, and finally came
TO the conclusion that it was the work of
Mr.. Frederick j. Mitchell, talented young
man who had worked for him some monUns
ago. He's wonderful speller and no mis-
take" said Mr.. Vandewater enthusiast
cally This utterance proved true later on,
but in a different way from what Mr. Van
dewater fneant.
The visitor soon found Mr.. Mitchelrs
b0rraa q r.yj,fya IN, do
But here arose new difficulty. Mr..
Mitchell's wife was at home. and so was his
charming little daughter, but the reversible
speller himself was working in his fathers
wheelwright shop in Fishkiu village, half
d zen miles away, painting some wagons
and carriages John Mitchell had Just built.
He WASN'T expected home for a couple of
days.
Mrs Mitchell wasn't bit surprised to
find that her husbands fame had reached
New York. Hes about the best speller
around here" size said, with the air of one
who announces time-worn truth. 'Spell-
ing comes very easy to him. And it's just
as easy for him to spell words backwards
big words, too, like Brinckerhoffville or
San Francisco"
Surely this was too great a man to lose.
Here was one who could discount Noah
Webster at his own game. The visitor had
consultation with the owner of a spirited
but specializing horse, and presently
he was being whirled, slowly but surely,
over muddy roads to the boss speller from
Spelersville. Within one brief hour the
young man found himself face to face with
f. ed j. Mitchell
The champion speller held jagged piece
of window glass in his left hand. 1t was
covered with red paint, into which the
speller often dipped long, thin brush of
fine cameps hair. With this brush he
painted attenuated but cheerful stripes on
the shafts and thills of new black buggy.
Mr.. Mitchell talked about his prowress and
kept on painting red stripes at the same
time, thereby showing truly great and
well regulated mind that could attend to
two things at once. The red paint emitted
a strong odor Of turps, but took no other
part in the conversation
Il don't know when first found out
could spell so well, said Mr.. Mitchell mod
estly, as he laid on the fiat color ster and
faster. Its great many years ago. l
was quite youngster. | never won SPELL
lng-match as | can remember, but | could
always spell backward better than any
body know. Just seemed to come natural.
1 never took no especial pains to do it. /
liked it and / did it. Can you say the
alphabet backward! No9 Why, that's
easy I-y-x-w-v-u-t-s-r-q- p-o-n-m-l-k-j -i-h-
g-f-c-d-e bal
Great ScottIn calculated the visitor.
Diuusly. as the letters battered out in a
gat'lng-gun volley, don't let that happen
again"
Its just as easy as that to spell words
backward if you've only got the gift. Now
you amt got the gift, SO of course you
can't. Now, there's New York city, It's
nothing but y-t-i-cn--
Hold ON Bit" interrupted the visitor.
Spell 'syllogism backward
Mr.. Mitchell stopped painting the hills
red and looked panied. "M-s-i-g-o-double-
Jig" he repeated very slowly. Then be
lacked ''theosophy" and got it right, after
MS visitor had spelled it twice forward very
slowly Next he tackled ''syndisniology.
After five attempts and much prompting
oy the questioner, the speller gave its re-
verse effect like this: "Y -g-o-l-o-n-g-d-i-s-
say-ain't -that-a- jawbreakers"
Next he tried "hemorrhage" aud got it
right in two slow trials. Then 'sphthlsic"
Tell an easy victim to Mr.. Mitchells fatal
gift. "Anthrisis,n "fanfarronade.n "hv-
lrocephalic" and Therapeutics" were pro
pounded in close order.
Spell 'em forward" urged Mr.. Mitchell
The visitor did so, going over each slowly
10 turn. The backward speller grew very
Odch Ndld.
What lot of iawbreakers you've
brought up from New York, he calculated
seeby as. he shook his head. ''They do
seem to so right"
"fry these" said the relentless visitor.
Spell 'anathema,' 'jibbernainossy,' pro
ohYlactic,' 'gargoyle,' icthosaurian, 'ipe-
,acuanha' and 'phenakistoscope' backward,
f you please"
WHAT a lot of jawbreakers they are"
aid Mr.. Mitchell rehectively, as he wagsed
ais head, meaning thereby that he hadn't
he faintest idea of trying to spell any of
,he words in any way. You see Pm
nervous to-day, and not in any kind of
shape. Besides, you've come at me with a
OF Of Jawbreakers never heard Of before.
Now, there's gravel, for instance. That's
lse-v-a-r-g' spelled backwards. l can spell \
hat out quickly, or most any word when l
nm all ready for it; but you caught me uu-
prepared. Tell you what Pill do, though.
II there's any one thinks he's the champion
II spelling words backwards offhand I'll
him for anything he's mind to
put up. Ill bet l can beat him, too
By this time the World man had started
or home and Mr.. Mitchell had once mere
begun to put red stripes on the new black
buggy. He looks like good speller. His
is broad, high and bullying, with
igns OF intellect and an early spring. He
5 81 years old and doesn't look more than
70. He weighs about 40 pounds, and his
bio .