Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1893-04-22
IS SPELLING 4 LOST ART,
words That Puzzle the Great Majority
OF People.

words That Puzzle the Great Majority
OF People.
Eighty-fve teachers entered
spelling contest at Teachers institute
in Lockport. recently Their partici-
patton IN the contest was compulsory.
although a prize. dictionary, was
given to the winner. OF the entire
eighty-fye only five spelled .Rensse-
laer'' correctly. Acknowledgment"
was misspelled by sixty-three, or
about seventy-four per cent Of the en-
tire number Of contestants. super
sede was misspelled by fifty-eight con
testant5; .'resuscitateN by fifty-four;
excellence" by fifty-six; benefited
by tifty-eight; business by fifty;
s.medal'' and maintenance by forty
five each; "millinern by forty-eight:
.'pretentious" and gaseous" each by
forty-three. and ''concede" by forty
nine. That is, each Of. these words
was missed by over one-half the CON
testants. In the local columns we
enter more fully into detail as to the
other words misspelled by a large
| percentage. but the instances noted
above viii be sufficient for our pur-
pose and show the general character
Of the words propounded and mis-
| spelled, says the LockpOrt Sun.
Now. when 50 large a proportion Of
teachers misspell 80 heavy percent
4 ages as these, and il be borne in mind
that no obsolete, unusual or ''catch'
word, properly so called, appears in
the entire list, justifes, we think, the
inquiry with which we introduce this
comment II must not, however, be hast
lily concluded by any ambitious neigh
Dor that Niagara is alone in the poor
spelling Of her teachers. Far from IT
on the contrary, Instructor Sanford
informs MS that she averages well
with other counties in which he has
instituted similar spelling contests.
In Rensselaer, county, for instance
the seat OF literature, laundrying
breweries, enlightenment and the
Troy Press, seven contestants cOulC
not spell the name Of their own coun
| ty. 1t appears, in fact, TO be puz-
zler everywhere Prof. Sanford gives
it out.
"Genesee' neter fails to bag {
goOdly number Of victims; and mica
ragua' can always be relied on for q
few. Shall we confess to Prof. San
ford that we are not so sure mi
agara" If propounded might not hay,
been misspelled by half dozen o.
so? One-ffth OF our letters from
points within the county come di
rected 'Niagra." Nor do we doub
that q similar number of Chautau
quans would fail on the name Of theii
county, and we imagine it would be ;
safe wager that seven teachers, at al
institute held in that place, provided
no previous hint was given, woult
misspell "Skaneateles. /"
Yet il can not be denied that thcs,
are common geographical names
mostly Of localities in our own state
Surely, no great proportion Of teach
ers should misspell them. Again
alleged" "changeable, .'eligible,
'chrysanthemum, parallel" "pa
ralysis," catarrhal" "hemorrhage,
separate and ''symmetry" are word
so persistently nisspelled that tn
, very fact should attract notice in on
schools, and the teachers should no
only spell them correctly and withou
Z hesitation themselves, but teach thei
scholars to do likewise.
: Restore the spelling bee!
-----l----z--+----s---a.---
a Philadelphia dentist gives ever
patron u pound Of gum drops Will