L1 
Youthful  Spellers  at  the  New  York  State  Fair 
NO.  4765 
VOL.  LXXXII. 
Published  Weekly  by  The  Rural  Publishing  Co., 
333  W.  30th  St..  New  York.  Price  One  Dollar  a  Y«*r. 
NEW  YORK,  OCTOBER  20,  1923 
Ent&Z'V  >07 
Office  a 
Y 
Matter,  June  26,  1879.  at  the  Post 
,  under  the  Act  of  March  3,  1879. 
g@N  INFLUENCE  IN  THE  SCHOOLS. 
— The  “spelling  bee"  held  annually  at 
the  State  Fair  is  as  keen  a  competi- 
11  tion  between  the  youthful  spellers  of 
the  rural  schools  of  the  State  as  any 
of  the  closely  contested  races  on  the  track.  More¬ 
over,  it  is  making  its  influence  felt  in  the  rural 
schools  of  the  State,  and  particularly  in  the  lives  of 
the  many  contestants.  It  is  an  exhibit  of  juvenile 
skill  in  which  more  and  more  people  are  expressing 
a  real  interest  every  year.  At  any  rate  the  spelling 
contests  of  the  past  few'  years  are  a  move  in  the 
right  direction.  They  encourage  familiarity  with 
the  English  language.  This  familiarity  is  acquired 
only  after  much  study  and  some  believe  that  to  be 
a  good  speller  one  must  have  a  natural  aptitude. 
Whether  aptitude  is  necessary,  or  whether  good 
spelling  is  more  a  matter  of  observation  and  mem¬ 
ory,  the  ability  to  spell  well  is  a  valuable  asset  to 
any  young  person,  or  adult.  It  is  qiiite  likely  that 
the  young  folks  who  won  the  prizes  at  the  recent 
fair  could  spell  down  most  of  the  stenographers, 
business  men,  or  even  the  ministers  and  statesmen 
of  today,  so  much  is  spelling  a  matter  of  memory 
and  training  and  so  long  has  the  art  been  somewhat 
neglected  in  the  modern  school  system. 
PICKING  THE  CHAMPIONS.— The  first  step  in 
the  State  Fair  contest  is  to  hold  spelling  contests 
in  eacli  supervisory  district,  then  in  each  county, 
to  determine  the  champion  of  each  county.  The 
latter  contest  is  usually  held  at  the  county  fair.  A 
new  list  of  words  was  prepared  for  the  1923  events, 
and  copies  supplied  the  district  school  superintend¬ 
ents  for  distribution  among  the  teachers  in  their 
respective  districts.  Any  boy  or  girl  who  has  once 
been  a  winner  is  barred  from  future  contests.  City 
boys  and  girls  are  eligible  to  the  contests,  as  are 
boys  and  girls  out  of  school  under  a  working  per¬ 
mit,  provided  they  are  duly  registered  in  an  ele¬ 
mentary  or  private  school.  There  must  be  at  least 
ten  contestants  in  each  county  contest,  and  the 
city,  village,  and  district  superintendents  of  a  county 
Here  are  the  winners  at  the  “spelling  bee ”  held  at  the  Neiv  York  State  Fair.  From  right  to  left  the  winners  are:  First  prize ,  Knight  Thornton ,  Wellsville, 
Allegany  County;  second  prize,  Barbara  Crosby,  Falconer,  Chautauqua  County;  the  middle  figure  is.  Commissioner  Graves;  third  prize,  Helen  Euser,  Broadal- 
bin,  Fulton  County;  fourth  prize,  Eunice  Peabody,  Holland  Patent,  Oneida  County 
