by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, December 8, 2023.
In the late Spring of 1875, the First Unitarian Society of Exeter proposed to the other churches in town a fund-raising spelling match. Spelling had become a popular form of entertainment in recent years, so much so that the Exeter News-Letter correspondent from Danville wrote, “The spelling mania arrived in town on the 22nd and has spread fearfully.” Most often these competitions (only rarely referred to as a ‘bee’) were used to raise funds for charitable and fraternal organizations or local church groups. The proposed match in Exeter would raise money for the prize winners and eight participating churches.
Spelling had long been considered a much-hated part of children’s education. Learning by rote required them to memorize long lists of words. At some point, clever teachers tapped into kids’ natural love of competition and the weekly school spelling match became a boon for the nerdier students. Surprisingly, even some of the less academically among the class might prove to be excellent spellers simply because they were more visual learners. In any case, spelling was something of a child’s game.
But perhaps due to nostalgia, or sometimes pure boredom, adults would occasionally find an old spelling book and challenge one another to a spelling contest. By the early 1870s, these were seen as wholesome and fun.
The City of Portsmouth challenged the Town of Exeter to a match in mid-May of 1875. “Portsmouth will be represented by the Principal of its High School, members of the professions, two or more ex-Mayors and other scholars – Ladies and gentlemen, - some of them graduates from our Academy. Our town’s honor will be upheld by teachers and students from the Academy, Seminary and High School.” Portsmouth had a well-seasoned team – Exeter did not. The News-Letter reporting sourly that, “the prizes were all captured by the strangers, and it would have been stranger still if they had not, as in several previous matches they had doubtless encountered all the peculiar and unfamiliar words which were used here.” Clearly, Exeter needed more practice and discipline. This may have been one of the reasons for the church sponsored match that followed.
“A score or more of young men and maidens presented themselves to contest for the honors and the prizes,” wrote the Exeter News-Letter after the match. One by one, the competitors went down. “The succeeding words which proved too difficult for the contestants were cadaverous, chalybeate (a word that created fearful slaughter), chargeable, collectible, demurer, disserviceable and appeasable.” Even the teachers had trouble with some words. Elizabeth Bridge, the grammar teacher at the Robinson Female Seminary was felled: “Oozy (spelled ouzy) was the fatal word for Miss Bridge; though the enunciator, having seen the word so spelled was loth to admit the incorrectness of her orthography. An appeal to both ‘Worcester’ and ‘Webster’ settled the only proper spelling oozy.” The final four spellers, Hedda Clement, Mary Emery, Frank Seamans and Albert Lane were left to tackle the horrors of refrangible, releasable, and paraphernalia. In the end, the last speller standing was Albert Lane, who at age 14 had managed to out-spell some of his own teachers.
The ‘spelling mania’ died down for a while but surfaced again nearly twenty years later. In December of 1894, a spelling match was held at the Exeter Town Hall between students of Phillips Exeter Academy and the Robinson Female Seminary. Thirty-two boys and thirty-two girls faced off before a sold-out crowd of roughly six hundred people. After some musical entertainment provided by the P.E.A. orchestra and a few recitations, the students were ready for head-to-head competition. “With few exceptions all words assigned are in common everyday use, and, as is generally the case, the simplest were often the worst stumbling blocks. Protasis and apodosis are, however, too technical rightfully to have bad place in a list made up as this was. Moreover, while familiar terms to all Academy students, a majority of the girls then heard them for the first time and were consequently at a disadvantage in this respect.” As the number of spellers decreased, the Seminary had two stand-outs – Florence Haley and Edith Green – who seemed impossible to fell. “Guerdon finally retired the former, and Miss Green failed on lovable, the simplest word assigned her during the evening. This ended the match, the Academy having still nine contestants.” The Academy boys had won the evening, and the event proved that ‘old fashioned’ spelling bees could still bring in a crowd.
Image: Worcester’s New Pronouncing Spelling Book was the standard used in New England Schools. During one spelling match in Exeter, it was consulted alongside a copy of Webster’s Dictionary.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Chalybeate is defined by Merriam-Webster as “impregnated with salts of iron, also, having a taste due to iron.” Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org.