Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1899-05-12

VINO llNcu eullTtll dlouc III a. Sihail
frame house on the finest farm in the
Eeighborhood. He was reputed to be
very wealthy. Though his manner of
life would indicate that he was poor
man. The four or five rooms of his
cheap little house were carpetless, and
better furniture could be found III the
homes of some of the poorest farmers
Queer stories were told of old Jonas
Keightlys generosity and of his parsi-
mony lie was always shabby in his
dress and lived in such seeming poverty
and discomfort, but when Margaret
Crane was left "A widow. with five little
children. and was about to have the
mortgage on her home foreclosed, Jo-
mas Keightly had come forward and
paid the thousand dollars due. and
would not even take the widows note
for the money. saying briefly that she
could pay it when She got good and
ready
When Cyrus and entered the school
house there sat Jonas near the teach
er's desk. with tallow candle in his
hand, ready 10 light when the spelling
should begin. Jonas never missed
spelling bee i'm our district or in his
own. Il was his conviction that or
biography was the foundation stone
Of all education.
There were others who held 20 this
belief, and more attention was given
to spelling than TO anything else in
the rural schools of that day.
The little Six-Alilc schoolhouse was
filled with pupils and their parents
when il came time for the spelling TO
begin.
1t happened that Cyrus and were
the only persons present from our dis
tritt. aud | had feeling that we were
not very welcome. because. a Cyrus
had said. the "Six-Milers" had met to
practice up" for a contest with our
school the following week.
However. when it came time for them
to choose sides, Cyrus and were
chosen along with the others and the
spelling began. First we spelled with
"trappers, then we kept tally" and
spelled across" and then the teacher,
a sweet-voced and pretty young wom-
an announced that we would spell
down"
At this juncture Of the proceedings
Jonas Keightly arose TO his feet and
amazed. everyone by saying:
There has been some good spelling
done here tonight very good, and I'm
delighted TO see YOU improving so
much. But | want To see YOU DO still!
better, so just TO encourage you and
kind Of put You cn your mettle. III tell
you what I'll do"
He thrust his hand down into his
pocket and drew forth a twenty-dollar
gold piece. Holding il on the palm. OF
his big. rough and toil-worn hard, he
said:
I'll give that 10 the one who stands
up longest in the spelling-down con-
test we're going to have now. Yes.
Wilt III hand it right over to the one
that spells all the rest Of you down"
This unexpected announcements ere
| ated great excitement. Twenty-dollar
| gold pieces were extremely rare in
| the neighborhood. and it is certain that
not a pupil of the Six-Mile school had
ever owned one. while Cyrus and new
Jonas added before spelling began:
I'm doing this for the encourage
ment Of the young, and ! don't want
anyone but those Of school age TO come
| into the contest. That will make 1t
! fairer for the boys and girls"
This caused n number of young men
and women and some older persons
| !, Il,
and the contest began.
Now. | was not very good speller,
/ and. 80 my chagrin | missed the first
word that came to me, and had TO Sit
down. Cyrus. by whose side | stood,
! giving me a sharp poke with his elbow
indicative Of his disgust.at ny stupid
ity, before | took my seat.
Cyrus was what some people called
"natural-horn spcl'er." lie seemed
to spell by intuition. and not because
he studied harder or longer than any
Of the other boys. He could 'out-spell"
almost any hoy in the school. while.
on the other hand he was lamcutablN
weak i'm mathematics and was helpless
in the face Of any problem involving
compound fractions.
Jonas Keightly's offer certainly put
one boy on his mettle, and that boy
was Cyrus Drake. He spelled boldly
and confidently. Twenty dollars in
gold meant so much to him. His eyes
had sparkled and look Of determine
ton had come 10 his face when Jonas
KeighNy had held the gold piece out
in his palm. Cyrus had whispered to
me:
I'm going 10 try for that"
The contest went forward amid sup
pressed eXcitment. No one whispered,
and the silence was so intense that
the lowcst-yoiced speller could be
heard in every part of the room.
When all but six of the contestants
had missed the words pronounced 10
them and had sat down. Cyrus was still