I never shall furgit that night when father hitched up
Dobbin,
And all us youngsters clambered in an' down the road
went bobbin'
To school where we wuz kep' at work in every kind o'
weather,
But where that night a spellin' bee wuz callin' us
together.
'Twuz one o' Heaven's banner nights, the stars wuz all
a glitter,
The moon was shinin' like the hand o' God had jest
now lit her.
The ground wuz white with spotless snow, the blast
wuz sort o' stingin';
But underneath our round-abouts, you bet our hearts
wuz singin'.
That spellin' bee had be'n the talk o' many a precious
moment,
The youngsters all wuz wild to see jes' what the
precious show meant
An' we whose years wuz in their teens, was little less
desirous
O' gittin' to the meetin' so's our sweethearts could
admire us.
So on we went so anxious fur to satisfy our mission
That father had to box our ears, to smother our ambi-
tion,
But boxin' ears wuz too short work to hinder our
arrivin',
He jest turned roun' an' smacked us all, an' kep' right
on a drivin'.
Well, soon the schoolhouse hove in sight, the winders
beamin' brightly;
The sound o' talkin' reached our ears and voices laffin'
lightly.
It puffed us up so full an' big 'at I'll jest bet a dollar,
There wan't a feller there but felt the strain upon his
collar.
So down we jumped an' in we went ez sprightly ez you
make 'em,
But somethin' grabbed us by the knees an' straight
began to shake 'em.
Fur once within that lighted room, our feelin's took a
canter,
An' scurried to the zero mark ez quick ez Tam
O'Shanter.
Cause there wuz crowds o' people there, both sexes an'
all stations;
It looked like all the town had come an' brought all
their relations.
The first I saw wuz Nettie Gray, I thought that girl
was dearer
'N' gold an' When I got a chance, you bet I aidged up
near her.
An' Farmer Dobbses girl wuz there, the one 'at Jim
was sweet on,
An' Cyrus Jones an' Mandy Smith an' Faith 'an
Patience Deaton.
Then Parson Brown an' Lawyer Jones were present--
all attention,
An' piles on piles of other folks too numerous to
mention.
The master rose an briefly said: "Good friends, dear
brother Crawford
To spur the pupils' minds along, a little prize has
offered.
To him who spells the best to-night--or 't may be 'her'
--no tellin'--
He offers ez a jest reward, this precious work on
spellin',
A little blue-backed spellun' book with fancy scarlet
trimmin';
We boys devoured it with our eyes--so did the girls
an' women.
He held it up where all could see, then on the table
set it,
An' ev'ry speller in the house felt mortal bound to
get it.
At his command we fell in line, prepared to do our
dooty,
Outspell the rest an' set 'em down, an' carry home the
booty.
'Twas then the merry times began, the blunders, an'
the laffin',
The nudges an' the nods an' winks an' stale good-
natured chaffin'.
Ole Uncle Hiram Dane wuz there, the clostest man a
livin' .
Whose only bugbear seemed to be the dreadful fear o'
givin'.
His beard was long, his hair uncut, his clothes all bare
an' dingy;
It wuzn't 'cause the man wuz pore, but jest so mortal
stingy.
An' there he sot by Sally Riggs a smilin' an' a smirkin',
An' all his childern lef' to home a diggin' an' a workin'.
A widower, he wuz an' Sal was thinkin' 'at she'd wing
him;
I reckon he wuz wond'rin' what them rings o' her'n
would bring him.
An' when the spellin' test commenced, he up an' took
his station,
A-spellin' with the best o' them to beat the very nation.
An' when he'd spell some youngster down, he'd turn to
look at Sally,
An' say: "The teachin' now-a-days can't be o' no great
vally."
But true enough the adage says, "Pride walks in
slipp'ry places,"
Fur soon a thing occurred that put a smile on all our
faces.
The laffter jest kep' ripplin' 'roun' an' teacher couldn't
quell it,
Fur when he give out "charity," ole Hiram couldn't
spell it.
But laffin's ketchin' an' it throwed some others off
their bases,
An' folks 'ud miss the very word that seemed to fit
their cases.
Why, fickle little Jessie Lee come near the house up-
settin'
By puttin' in a double kay to spell the word coquettin'.
An' when it come to Cyrus Jones, it tickled me all
over--
Him settin' up to Mandy Smith an' got sot down on
"lover."
But Lawyer Jones of all gone men did shorely look
the gonest,
When he found out that he'd furgot to put the "h" in
"honest."
An' Parson Brown whose sermons were too long fur
toleration,
Caused lots o' smiles by missin' when they give out
"condensation."
So one by one they giv it up--the big words kep' a
landin',
Till me an' Nettie Gray wuz left, the only ones
a-standin',
An' then my inward strife began--I guess my mind
was petty--
I did so want that spellin' book; but then to spell
down Nettie
Jest sort o' went agin my grain--I somehow couldn't
do it,
An' when I git a notion fixed, I'm great on stickin'
to it.
So when they giv' the next word out--I hadn't orter
tell it,
But then 'twas all fur Nettie's sake--I missed so's she
could spell it.
She spelt the word, then looked at me so lovin'-like an'
mello',
I tell you 't sent a hunderd pins a-shootin' through a
fello'.
O' course I had to stand the jokes an' chaffin' of the
fello's,
But when they handed her the book I vow I wasn't
jealous.
We sung a hymn an' Parson Brown dismissed us like
he orter,
Fur la! he'd learned a thing er two an' made his
blessin' shorter.
'Twas late an' cold when we got out, but Nettie liked
cold weather,
An' so did I, so we agreed we'd jest walk home
together.
We both wuz silent, fur of words we nuther had a
surplus,
'Till she spoke out quite sudden like, "You missed
that word on purpose."
Well, I declare it frightened me; at first I tried
denyin',
But Nettie, she jest smiled an' smiled, she knowed that
I was lyin'.
Sez she: "That book is your'n by rights;" sez I: "It
never could be--
I--I--you--ah---" an' there I stuck, an' well she
understood me.
So we agreed that later on when age had giv' us tether,
We'd jine our lots an' settle down to own that book
together.

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