The Washington herald., 1912-05-26

Annapolis, Nd, May 3.-Candidates
for admission to the United States Naval
Academy hailing from every part Of the
country may be considered representa-
tive Of American secondary school train
ing. Their answers TO questions In
grammar, spelling, geography. and his
tory constitute material for the investi-
gator OF educational conditions through
out the United States
II, one may generalizs from an an
alysis OF Naval Academy entrance exam
nations held during the last six years,
the youth Of the country seem TO know
less and less each year about the SPELL
ing Of their native tongue. A large ma
jority failed In the spelling examination
six years ago. This year over three
fourths OF the candidates who took the
examination in April failed. "Anthra-
cite" was misspellsd by over ons-half OF
the candidates. Only one in ten OF them
could spell 'garrulous" Here are some
Of the Stabs they made at It: "GIrlE'
tnins timesl. tgerylus." "geurallous. ."
''garraIllous," ''garallsts {" ''granulous, :"
''gaurIeous." ''guerr!Hous," ''gurIes."
What. you viii ask, was meant by the
lad who wrote ''bosanise2" He was try
ing to spen ''buoyancy" "Appolition -
AppaiachiaB. Porsuder'' translated
means procedure" ''heryest" is EFF
AHANEelGH AHNNtAAkGIIN was 7aNAlAAAg
''entelegense." "Geyser' erupts ints
''guisu," "gyscier." 'gueyseer," "glycer-
IN, and ''geyeszer."
One candidate asked 10 comment
briefly on the Reign OF Terror evolved
this classic: The Reign OF Terror was
revolving in France. People were
slaughtered and cities destroyed. Blood
was thicker than water"
Where PyramIds Were.
Two accounts of the pyramids of Egypt
are memorable, namely %. They keep
growing smaller and smaller ali the time
until there is nothing at ALL" and o.,
There are two OF thsm-ons Is in Paris
and the other In Central Park, New
York"
Here are a few random shots in geog-
rsphy: Pete Cpea0 Is the chief food OF
Ireland" ''Gret Briton is II Southern
Asia, in Northern China" Brazil is
bounded on the south by Usuty and on
the north by Gummia (tbe GuiRnasO;"
the Panama Canal Is between the United
States and Canada" divides It where
the water flows in both directions from
that point" Mount Mckinley is IN the
Mts- In Alaska, Or. Cooch Is the only
man how every was to the top that is
tmay be);'' the dividing line between
Scotland and England is Mason and Dix
on's line" 'eight islands north OF Aus
tEalia are ." . and Monna Lisa
In grammar one lad went 50 far as to
say that the plural OF she is women
and another in writing OF Lincoln deliver
ed this peroration: "In them days, when
money and things was hard 10 get at,
he did not steaL But think he lied,
because all boys do that. with one ex-
ception, George Washington"
The Dark Ages" wrote one boy, "is
so called because very little is known
about them" All thet one youth could
remember about Charles Of England
was that he wore long hair and q big
fancy star on his arm" Utter chaos
reigned in the mind OF one candidate who
was asked to name hvs gods Of the
Greeks and Romans He named Thor
Wooden, Hercules, Ajax. and Venice.
Even II the reader is EIIling 10 translate
Venice" into Venus" what is he to
think Of the spelling?
What has been the schooling Of Sim
who writes Of Julius Caesar as 'Juiice
caescar.s although the correct ypsllingl
stares him in the face on the rxamina-
ton paper? Who taught geography to