The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-05-16

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Bernard Schotman, ten years old and
in the fourth grade at CORTLAND, is
the champion speller of Nicollet
county. After nearly two hours of
spelling last evening at the annual
county spelling match at st. Peter
young Schlotman spelled down" Miss
Evelyn Peterson of North Mankato
and thirty four other contestants,
winning first place in the match
Miss Evelyn Peterson of North
Mankato was second in the match
and she and Bernard Schlotman will
represent Nicollet county at the
spelling match at the state fair this
fall. The winner received a prize of
$40 toward defraying his expenses
for the trip and Miss Peterson re-
eeived prize of $3.50 toward her
trip to the state fair
- Went Down on Small Words.
AS is commonly the case in spelling,
it was the smaller words that caught
the contestants last evening and not
the longer and harder sounding words.
This was the sixth annual spelling
match to be held in Nicollet county
and the st. Peter opera house was
packed with spectators, many farm
ers coming in to her the match.
County Superintendent of Schools
Albert j. Holmstead had complete
charge Of the match and the program
of the evening.
The contestants were all seated in
semicircle on the stage. There
were but six boys present for the
match. Thirty-six contestants COM
pet6o m the spell down. There were
to have been forty-fiye represented but
some failed to be on hand. The stu
dents were from the seventh or low
er grades from the various schools in
the county. Each school was entit-
led to send one representative.
Repeated the Words.
DIR. 8. L. Reed of the Gustavus
Adolphus college pronounced the
world to the students, repeating each
word twice before it was spelled. The
contestants had the right to start a
did not finish spelling it wrong. Az
stood while the contest was Fn,!G on
and as soon as any ec~'"r+"nt miss
ed word they were obliged to take
their seats. .. .
The first 400 words of the contest
were printed on programs given out
to the audience. After these words
had been spelled sealed list pre-
pared by Superintendent Holm
stead was given DR.. Reed. These
words were all unknown to the con
testants. Miss Margaret Koelfgen oil
st. Peter, teacher in District 2; Miss
Clara Skojtrom, teacher in District
~: and Superintendent l.. E. Kassube
of the Nicollet consolidated school
were the judges of the contest.
Started at Nine O'clock.
The, spelling started about nine
o'clock and for the first fifteen min
Htes all the contestants remained
standing. Then some of the more diff
ficult words were named and the
spellers began taking their seats
Rather. villain. dyspepsia and appar,
atus were the words which dashed the
possible hopes of winners during the
first half hour of the match.
BY ten o'clock twenty four of the
spellers had been retired to theii
seats and but twelve remained stand
ing. From that time on however the
misspelled words were few and fal
between and the interest Of the spec
tators was keen BY ten thirty five
of these had been spelled down an6
only seven contestants remained
standing. The 400 word list wa.
completed at this time and DR.. Reet
was given the sealed list.
Giraffe and Tiger Puzzlers.
Giraffe and tiger were mispelled
claiming two of the seven speller!
and the final five, winners of the con
test were left standing to fight for thu
highest honors. Alice Mikels wa!
retired when "oblige" was missed
and Bernice Jickerian failed on thu
word "beetle." A few minutes late
and Bernard Schlotman and EyelyI
Peterson were facing each other from
opposite sides of the platform, spei
ling for first honors. The two con
tested for perhaps fifteen minutes
before the word 'Gentimeat," miss
PEELED by Evelyn Peterson, maa'
Bernard Schlotman tie champion
speller of the county.
The Smallest Contestant.
Young Sehlotman was the smalles
contestant at the match but his splri
and interest in the match won applaus
early in the spelling. He spoke tn
words out clearly and without hest
fancy. Miss Jennie Amman OF Court
land is Bernard Schlotman's teacher
Previous > to the starting OF tn
spelling match program OF movin
pictures was shown at the theatr
and following the match secon
reel of pictures was shown.
The names of the thirty six con
testants taking part in the match ]