. The Hoosier school-master : a novel . his one art of spell-ing he was of no account. He could notcatch well or bat well in ball. He couldnot throw well enough to make his markin that famous Western game of did not succeed well in any study butthat of Websters Elementary. But inthat he was—to use the usual Flat Creeklocution—in that he was a hoss. Thisgenius for spelling is in some people asixth sense, a matter of intuition. Somespellers are bom and not made, and theirfacility reminds one of the mathematicalprodigies that crop out every now andthen to bewilder the world. Bud Means
. The Hoosier school-master : a novel . his one art of spell-ing he was of no account. He could notcatch well or bat well in ball. He couldnot throw well enough to make his markin that famous Western game of did not succeed well in any study butthat of Websters Elementary. But inthat he was—to use the usual Flat Creeklocution—in that he was a hoss. Thisgenius for spelling is in some people asixth sense, a matter of intuition. Somespellers are bom and not made, and theirfacility reminds one of the mathematicalprodigies that crop out every now andthen to bewilder the world. Bud Means,foreseeing that Ralph would be pittedagainst Jim Phillips, had warned his friend that Jim could spell like thunder and lightning, and that it u took a powerfulsmart speller to beat him, for he knew a heap of spelling-book. To have spelled down the master is next thing to hav-ing whipped the biggest bully in Hoopole County, and Jim had spelled down the last three masters. He divided the hero-wor-ship of the district with Bud JEEMS PHILLIPS. SPELLING DOWN THE MASTER. 49 1 For half an hour the Squire gave out hard words. What atressed thing our crooked orthography is ! Without it there couldbe no spelling-schools. As Ralph discovered his opponentsmettle he became more and more cautious. He was now satisfiedthat Jim would eventually beat him. The fellow evidently knewmore about the spelling-book than old Xoah Webster himself. Ashe stood there, with his dull face and long sharp nose, his handsbehind his back, and his voice spelling inf allibly, it seemed to Hart-sook that his superiority must lie in his nose. Ralphs cautious-ness answered a double purpose: it enabled him to tread surely,and it was mistaken by Jim for weakness. Phillips was now con-fident that he should carry off the scalp of the fourth school-mas-ter before the evening was over. He spelled eagerly, confidently,brilliantly. Stoop-shouldered as he was, he began to straightenup. In the minds of all the com
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