Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-01-27

figured by horse teeth and middle
board or two broken by the push of
the sled tongues. How the little fell
snow in the school yard at pun, pun,
pullaway. The elders were already
gathering inside. Old ladies came
quietly and found a seat with other
old ladies and betool themselves to
mild and harmless gossip. The older
men stood about the stove and ex-
changed the ordinary news of the
farm Maidens came slipping in by
threes and tours distractingly bright
of eve and ROSY of cheek, beneath their
hoods. The young men ran in pairs.
The box stove glowed to cherry red
as the hardwood chunks Joined in the
general hilarity and flared thru the
front and laughed up the elght-lnch
pipe. The room was dimly lighted ex-
cent at the teachers desk, where sew
Gfal kerosene ld11lDS WclS SotbehSA W. 49, y"
galaxy, but it was mighty comfortable
and pleasant. And when the teacher
walked out on the front porch and rang
the bell as a signal that the spelling
was to begin, how the red-faced young
rowdies TANNED and crowded thru the
doors, with loud nasal shifts and sur
reptitious sleeve wipings, flung them
selves into seats and settled down to
the tapping of the desk by the teachers
ruler.
Then we chose up. Mostly the two
hest spoilers chose but candor COM
pels the statement that the first choice
of the leaders was guided as such
choices always should be more by
love than sober judgment. The
"chooser'' picked to stand closest the
boy or girl as the case might be Whom
"childish favor singled After that 1t
was business.
OF course we couldn't all spell. Some
of us didn't last past the first ten
pages of Sanders Speller. "Haulm
slew it's thousands, but the words OF
the same sound but different mean
ings" their tens, of thousands. Slowly
the embattled lines drawn UP on eth
err side of the school room contracted
as the rasping voice of the teacher
ground on past "anil, the indigo plant;
and "mien" and ''mesne." But If you
| missed all was not lost. One could
go back and sit with the boys and
whisper on the sly. If he were alb
normally bold he might sit on the re-
mote end of seat occupied by girl
but that was heroism.
The follow who never took girl
home from spellin' school may have
grown rich or become powerful but he
is a poor, pitiful creature after all.
He may have led armies and headed
forlorn hopes and blown up vessels
barehanded but unless he has been a 10
year-old country boy 80 years ago and
screwed his courage to the point OF
asking some bashful and demure little
miss to see her home before crowd of
hovs and girls of his own age he has
never been initiated into the thirty
third degree of heroic endeavor. Ever
do it? If you do you remember how
YOU walked up the crisp snow road,
how the stars filled the blue bowl OF
the heavens from the zenith to the
horizon and every single solitary star
peeped and winked at you. There
wasn't much talk on the road. She
was embarrassed and thinking what
father might say and you were Won
dering whether you dared kiss her at
the gate. And if yon found the nerve
to bend over the face with its stubby
nose framed in the knit hood and
snatch hasty salute you walked home
on air and never forgot it. Isn't that
SO? o Temora! Eheu fugaces! Gee
whiz!
Let us have the renaissance Of the
spelling school. Let the lights glitter
in the little school house and the lines
Of stamping horses grow again along
the fences. If it fails to teach the young
ones how to spell it will help the older
ones how to be young again if only in
memory The sentimental value of the
old fastened spellin' school is as much
to be considered as its educational
need. "The first choice will be given
to the one who guesses closest to the
number of the page where have my
finger" Bring on the spellin' school,
s4s-s-s-s-s-s-s. -ss-s-s-s-s-,
]. Tn~s.. &c H. IT,: 4