The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1911-07-20
THE SPELLING MATCH
The Words That Stumped The
Spoilers.
MISS Jones, OF ESSEX, THE WINNER

The Court House was filled Monday
night with teachers of the Summer In
stitute and with citizens of Fredericks-
burg. Many Of the former were there
to participate in the spelling bee and
the others went to see and to hear.
The spelling match was under the
auspices of the Summer Institute and
the spelling commenced about 500 and
continued for more than two hours, the
occasion being a source of great interest
to the large gathering.
Prof. J. p. Neir, conductor Of the in
sttute, in opening the exercises an
nounced that Prof. K. l.. Blanton. of
Richmond, who had expected to be
present and conduct the spelling match,
was DELAYED IN Richmond owing 10 a
late train and could not be present. lroi.
Neff took his place and filled 1t well.
There were 81 contestants IN the
match and the words were given out to
them by Prof. Neff from Sleeps word
studies. Miss Virginia Henshaw aud
Miss Clara Davis were the captains OF
the two teams which formed semi
circle around the bar in the Court House.
The first contestant to fail was Mrs. NJ.
A. Wood. of Richmond, who missed ON
the word "accede. " For time the
spelling was so good It seemed an I'M
ending task TO reduce the lines TO point
where the prizes could be awarded, but
finally contestants commenced TO drop
out one by one, their failures beng re-
corded on the following words:
Anecdote, arraign. ascent, borough
bole. breach, pane. pibroch, prejudice,
paean. caret, proceed, requltal. rout,
rustic. saccharin, sensual, seine, sere,
sieve, site, tacit. garrulous. medallion
marshal. martial. mncmonics.
A number of words were thrown out
by the Judges under the rules laid down
for the government of the contest, es-
pecially foreign words. Granary and
dracbm and a number of similar words
were subjects of dispute and the judges
decided with the contestants who were
allowed to remain in the match. The
only male contestant in the long line was
Mr.. William Y. Ellicott. of Prince VIII
liam county, who fought vallantly, but
finally failed on the word "caret. lie
had previously missed on "cOnnoisseur,
but this was thrown out as foreign
word and Mr.. Ellicott was recalled
amid much applause. -,
The number of contestants was finally
reduced to three, Miss Eva Jones, Of
Essex, Mrs. +. G.. Olivier. of Staunton,
and Miss Sadie Monroe. Of Fairfax. For
a time it seemed impossible to find
words these ladies' could not spell, but
finally Miss Monroe missed and Mrs.
Olivier failed on " liniment Miss
Jones was then declared the winner.
the second prize going TO Mrs. Olivier.
The winners of the two prizes were
enthusiastically applauded, and later
were recipients Of many congratulations
The judges were Rev. DIR. II. II;
Barber. Judge John T. Gcolrick and
Mr.. B. p. Willis, and Prof. A. B..
Chandler, Jr., filled the place Of repeater
Prof. Z. II. Russell presented the
first prize of ten dollar gold piece to
Miss Eva Jones, of Essex county, in a
very graceful speech, and the second
prize. a handsome dictionary, was pre-
sented TO Mrs. Olivier. of Staunton, by
Prof. Walker, Of the University OF Nlr-
ginia, with appropriate remarks. Inc
BOBBY prize was presented by Judge
Goolrick to Mrs. Wood. this prize gong
to her only for the reason that she was
the first to miss after the spelling
commenced.