The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-06-26
TheliGiiOnary
Troubles OF Bill Kennedy With
tie Contents

In the old days. down in Arkansas '
said the stranger with the g0atee and
black string tie. "Bln Kennedy was q
railroad contractor on the Memphis a
Little Rock. Bin has gone up in the
world since then, is a millionaire one
or two times over, and owns. I reckon,
one or two little railroads himself But
Bill, in those days, was kept hustling
to keep the mules fed up on hay, and
what with swamp fever and poor es-
Inmates. Arkansas did not look too
good to him.
But BID was always plucky, be-
lieved right along that he would come
to the top, and there is no saying
where man with a belief like that
win end. Bill lost no chances in Civ
ing Providence a tip in the line Of
helping a good man who surely helped
himself. He stuck to his contract,
and with the aid Of the missus in the
cookhouse. and Red Mike on the
aVmp, kept his head above the
awamps, and finally pulled out some
thing, II not much, to the good.
I'm his leisure moments, which
were not frequent, he would turn his
attention to what the missus thought
would improve his mind, and help him
not to disgrace his wealth when It
came Bill had no fear but that It
would come all right.
"One Of Bilrs weak points was his
spelling. Through the aid OF his wife
he had mastered the mysteries Of
writing, for Bill, before being married,
had moments Of grave difficulty in at.
fixing his John Henry Hancock to q
pay check. But the wicked inconse-
quence Of English spelling put him on
the run, and while he never had any
difficulty in saying what he wanted to
say in a letter, a remarkable su-
pernuity Of vowel and consonants
harassed his efforts in a more or less
legible expression Of his views.
Now Bill had an old bookkeeper in
those days-probably has him vets
thin, dried up runt Of man, whom
Bill kept to shave and muddle his
subcontractor's estimates, and used al
safety valve to let off bad language
that might otherwise have brought
him into trouble with a hard-hstec
son Of Ireland.
"Old man Drury had made severa
attempts to get away from Bill, anC
cussed him freely. but privately, be
hind his back as slave driver, bu
nobody else ever seemed to want him
and he always drifted back to Bill. So
because and for the reason that h'
was cheap, and though he drank OF
the sly, Bill thought him sober, he wa
kept on as a sort of charitable obiec
lesson.
ITO Drury, in his struggles witt
English literature, Bill turned for al
sistance.
What in thunder. Drury,' he asked
can get to help me to spell? i can
learn It. There is no rule to tell yo
why a word is spelled that way 70
Just simply have to know. With me IT.
ell guesswork. Amt there book ca
get that l can look up when III
stumped for a word, and 1t viii Civ
me the right hang Of it?'
Sure, says old man Drury. 'Yo
get dictionary. All you have to do 1
: to get a dictionary, and when your
Btumped for the spelling, all you hav
to do is TO look the word up In tn
dictionary, and there you have th
spelling all correct
This looked good to Bill, and b
gave old man Drury a check and tol
him to go out and buy the biggest an
best dictionary in the market. So ol
man Drury went out and bought a
: enlarged and comprehensive edition
with luminous wood cuts and explani
tory foot notes, and ali right an
proper to enlighten the ignorance OF
man like Bill. Then he planted II
dictionary in an exposed and conspicr
ous place on Bits desk. For Bill
correspondence needed a desk by tn
4 time. and he had to give up his o.
corner on the eommissary counte
: which was now relegated to its prop'
use Of storing dry-salted sides for Il
niggers.
Bills literary explorations went {
swimmingly and he found more wore
In the dictionary and more ways
spelling them than he had ever dream
Of. One day, however, the troub
came. Old man Drury was doing oY
his desk. when a violent explosiC
occurred in Bills Office, and the dl
tionary came hurting past old mt
Drury's head and into the room bur
y Bill himself, apparently under the
huence OF violent emotion.
, 'Drury, yelled Bill. that book
no good
"a "'Why. what's the natterT faint
m aakad the asfonisbed Drpry sWha'