North Vernon High School - Mirror Yearbook (North Vernon, IN)

Page 6 text:

Mary so beautiful, but her face was unusually pale contrasting witl1 her dark locks and deep blue eyes spoke of intelligence and depth of charac- ter. As the defeated members of her party looked upon her they dared to think that she might win although they knew that Mr. Bea- son was one of the best spellers in the state. The excitement YOSC every minute, For a whole half- hour. But what? Could the watchers believe their ears?-Yes. For in reply to Mr. Beason Mr. Barnes whose voice trembled with excitement hurriedly called out, Next, and Miss Mary spelled the word correctly. By that time the disorder was so great that Mr. Barnes thought fit to announce a short recess. When the spelling commenced again the nine were rather con- fused but they were all good spell- ers so they struggled bravely. Fate turned against them and in less than an hour they were all de- feated, leaving Miss Mary the vic- tor. Amid the roar of applause, buzz of conversation and congratulations that followed, Mr. Barnes, after clearing his throat a great many times, succeeded in obtaining a temporary silence. He then proud- ly presented to Mary that most valuable book, which he said, should be ranked alongside the spelling book and Bible. After that he straightened up to his full height and said: Ladies and gentlemen: Ahem! Ahem! God has seen fit on this day to bless this young lady on ac- count of her great knowledge of spelling, ahem! As He permits so many joys to come at once 1 will say, ahem, that I have been in- structed to announce. ahem, that the school trustees of the leading cities of this section are waiting, ahem, to choose some one or ones from this assembly, ahem! al1em!

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111a11ner: Ladies and gentlemen: Ahem! ahem! You all know that this is the last secession, al1e1n! of the midwiuter annual teachers' associa- tion of this district in Ohio State, ahem! al1e1n!-but you did 110t know that a surprise had been pre- pared for you. Ahem! During this meeting we have discussed the benefit of spelling and tl1e lack of attention to this study i11 some of the other states. Ahem! I and the most of us do I hope, ahem! recognize that spelling is the basis of learning. Since such meetings as this should have some pedagog- ical disti11ctio11. ahem! we will de- vote this time to a spelling 1natcl1. A prize will be given to the winner. Ahem! Imagine the honor not only of being the best spellerin this assembly but also of being the possessor ahem! of thelatest edition of Webster's unabridged dictionary. AllCllll This dictionary contains Il8,000 words, 3,000 engravings, 2,012 Qahemll pages, asupplement, ahem! and-etc , ahem! This last was delivered iu a grandiloquent tone after which he paused ostentatiously to clear his throat but really to see llle effect. In view of these facts, al1en1! as Isee your expectancy I herewith appoint Herman Goldsmith and joseph Arnold the captains. The two young lllell llflllled as captains determined who should A first choose by pulling straws. It was found that Herman was the fortunate one. Soon all present were arranged in the opposing lines, tl1e poor spellers, who looked very shamefaced, being at the foot of the two divisions. Mr. Barnes then with a ,grave air opened the spelling book and pro- nounced words to the captains. Soon ller111a11 spelled e11tice with an s for c. A murmur of rejoicing went through the other side while his ow11 line looked chagriued. Mr. White, a young man from Pennsylvania who actually wore glasses, now took Herman's place and the spelling proceeded as be- fore. BntJoseph's glory did not last long for i11 his confidence he spelled interpellation with o11ly one 1. The words were IllCll passed from line to line until only twenty- Hve were left. 0f these I-Iern1an's side could boast fifteen. By this ti111e Mr. Barnes had used most of the words in the com- mon spelling book so he commenced with Henderson's Test Speller, a book noted for its hard words. It seemed as though all Herman's hfteen must go, for one by one they tool: their seats while Mr. Beason, the other leader, still stood there. At last only Olle remained, a tall, slender young lady whose calmness almost seemed to defy her oppon- ents. Perhaps at some other time you would llOt have thought Miss

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Emesf johnson, Hattie Eafon, Edna Tech, i5f Warie 'Daw 'Pr-es. Adam Sfeinmelz, Zlh dm Lovi Wee 'RA lph Linkharf, Hofwe, Fra Velma Burkbf: rf, Huckleberry, Laura K N N L2 S E Pear-I McConnell. ara Dafvis, CI Edilh CBrackem