CONCERT AND SPELLING BEE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2228, 29 September 1875, Page 2

CONCERT AND SPELLING BEE.

. The Volunteer Hall was not so well filled as it should have been last evening, but there was, in a double sense, a fair attendance. The. fair sex predominated, both in the body of the hall and on the platform. There was, first, a concert, and it was a very pleasing part of the programme. It deserves minute notice, but unfortunately our reporter is not familiar with the faces of the ladies who contributed to its success, and can only say that each deserved the encore which she received. There was one marked distinction between -the lady vocalists and the geutlemen who sang. The former sang the words as well as the notes, enunciating the words of the songs " trippingly on the tongue." Some of the gentlemen sang with the effect that one might achieve enclosed in a cask. The accompaniment was accurate, and the general result most satisfactory. The Spelling Bee was, in point of time, the second, but, in point of entertainment, the first part of the programme. ,It was the first local attempt at imitating the fashion of the time, but it was not a mere imitation. There was a good deal of originality in the "get up" of the principal participators, and a freedom' in the manner of conducting the proceedings which became their proper character as a parlor amusement. Mr Newton anticipated his possible future by acting, as Judge, backed by a dictionary ; Mr Greenwood was the examiner, disguised externally in something remotely resembling the attire of a University Professor ; and Mr Cavanagh and another gentleman represented the committee by whom the examination papers had been prepared. The examination papers consisted of small slips, each of which had written on it a word— the majority English ; a minority, unfortunately for the discriminaton of the committee, French, or slightly scientific. The words were drawn "on the art-union principle," and were put to the candidates by Professor Greenwood, who proved thoroughly equal to the occasion — benevolently disposed towards his pupils, and deadly, in dry humor, against those who — for the fun of thing — disputed his pronunciation or his quantities. The competitors were not enumerated. Perhaps there were twenty. At least there were twelve; half of the number ladiesyoung ladies, willing and able to spell well, but not so able as their male compeers. There was not one word put which it would not have been a shame for anyone to fail in spelling, except wheri the words were of strange extraction,' and surely some of those put were so. " Billet doux" ought to be known by most ladies, but there were others equally of foreign extract which might have been appropriately omitted from the list by a committee whose experience seemed to have been exclusively obtained in a doctor's shop, or in the study of dog Latin* "Eider" was about the most simple word on which a competitor failed, and he went willingly " down." It is unnecessary to detail the failures and their result—all taken in good part — but some contumacious fellow in the back seats would have it that, to disqualify a competitor on the spelling of the word " judgment" with an c in the middle was unfair, inasmuch as, in the office of the leading newspaper of the Colonies,, that peculiar form of spelling it is insisted upon at the cost of penalties. Of course, there was: a dictionary to refer to, and "Ogilvie" was the standard, though such wa3 not pre-announced. "Jezebel" was properly l put aside as a proper name, but there was an adherence to the pronunciation of : " cerebral " for " cerebral" which is not justified by Latin, and an affinity for« for s in " acclimatisation," which, though it is more right than wrong, was not justification fora competitor being "sent to Coventry." "Castellan," freely pro-i nounced, and unexplained, was the cause of a competent competitor taking only \ the third prize, but he was wrong, in his; spelling, as a friend of his in. the : background was wrong; in too loudly forj sotto voce saying, " casteKan ": with, the! emphasis on the second syllable. : The i words in which competitors were successful, i and those in which they broke do wnj are j no doubt, written on their memories as they I now sleep, and it concerns few but those ; present to care or know who was; successful ; in the competition. We don't know, ex- ; cept that a young compositor got the first ;i prize, that Bomebody got the second, and that the third was secured by a competitor whose daily occupation is evidently not the study of Carpenter's spelling-book. The prizes were presented by Professor Greenwood, and were accompanied by remarks in which he thoroughly sustained his temporary collegian character and permanent good humor ; aud Mr Newton returned thanks on the part of the promoters of the entertainment. Thus ended a very pleasant evening's amusement, in the conclusion of which there were only two errors. The audience ought to have thanked the promoters, and a lady ought to have got a prize. If the ladies could ever contemplate such a thing as revenge, they should be the committee and examiners on the next occasion, and import what would be a great improvement in the conduct of Spelling Bees — the presence of a jury of twelve. Johnston, Ogilvie, or Webster are all very well in their way, but in all trials . or inquiries of any kind a jury of our countrymen or countrywomen is to be preferred, and especially in connection with such source of amiable, disputation as a Spelling Bee. ;