The Washington herald., 1908-07-26
SPELLING BEE RECALLED
The Test of Cleveland Pupil Reminds One of How
Hannah, the Bound Girl, ShOWed
Her MettLe.

discovered his opponents mett1e he BE-
came more and more cautious He was
now satisfied that Jim would eventually
beat him The fellow evidently knew
more about the spelling book than old
Noah Webster himself As he stood
there with his dull face and long. sharp
nose. his hands behind his back. and his
voice spelling infallibly. il seemed 10
Hartsook that his superiority must lie in
his nose
Ralph's cautiOusness served q double
pUrpose-it enabled him TO tread surely.
and It was mistaken by Jim for weakness.
Phillips was now confident that he should
carry on the scalp Of the fourth school
master before the evening was over. He
spelled eagerly. confidently. brilliantly
Stoop-shOuldered as he was. he began 10
straighten up IN the minds Of all the
company the odds were in his favor. He
saw this. and became ambitious 10 distin-
guish himself without giving The matter
any thought"
But Ralph knew that a victory over
Phillips would be a defeat TO Or. Small. a
man who wished him only FL and he
spelled in a logged way, never doubling
his final success
The Champion Fails
4AltDtAtJ4ALta Hsa4t4 AlL-- 81
The. the. cd. Cd. theod. o. theodo,
l-y-t-e. Jheodolite,' spelled the champion
Next said the squire Ralph spelled
the word slowly and correctly, and the
conquered champion sat down in c0nfu-
sion. The excitement was 50 great for
some time that the spelling was suspend
ed Everybody in the house had shown
sympathy with one OF the other Of the
combatants, except the silent shadow in
the corner II had not moved during the
contest, and did not show any interest
now in the result
The other spoilers on the opposite side
went down quickly under the hard words
the squire gave out. and at last there
was only one lefJ-Hannah. the bound
girl AT old Jack Means. She an w
known quantity. had not attended school
in the district. and had never spelled in
the school before. but she disposed OF The
easy words and soon reached those C<
eight syllables-
-'Listless scholars ROW turned round.
ceased 10 whisper. IN order 10 be in at
the masters final triumph. But 10 their
surprise. ole Miss Neanses' white Niger
as some of them called her in allusion -
her slavish life. spelled these great words
with as perfect ease as the master. StIu
not doubling the result. the squire turned
IRON place 10 place, ana selected al. the
hard words he could find
The school became utterly quiet the
excitement was too great for The orCl-
nary buzz Would 'Meanses' Ean1e-'
beat the masJeT7 Beat me master thar
had laid out Jim PhNIips2 The
squire was puzzled lie had given ou-
all the hard words IN the book He again
pulled the top OF his head forward. Then
he wiped his spectacles. and pUt tleu
or Then out Of the depths Of his packet
he fShed up a list Of words Just coming
into use in those days-wo76s not in the
spelling book be regarded his paper at
( tentively. with his blue right eye
'DaSuerreotype.' snifed the squire. L
was Ralph's turn
'D-a-u. dzu-
% Next
And Hannah spelled il right
Also. IL may be well 20 add this Han
nah. who spelled down the master. suuse-
CUently married him