the spelling book, andparticularly did she devote herself to that study now that she hadn'ther chum to associate with.
The spelling-bees were attended by the parents of the pupils and allthe neighbors thereabout, and Helen wrote that she and Tom were goingto attend on the evening in question and that Tom said he hoped to seeRuth "just eat up those other girls" when it came to spelling. ButRuth Fielding much doubted her cannibalistic ability in this line.Julia Semple had borne off the honors on two occasions during thewinter, and her particular friend Rosa Ball, had won the odd trial.Now it was generally considered that the final spelling-bee would bethe occasion of a personal trial of strength between the two friendlyrivals. Either Julia or Rosa must win.
But Ruth was the kind of a person who, in attempting a thing, did hervery best to accomplish it. She had given some time and thought to thespelling book. She was not likely to "go down" before any easy, orwell-known word. Indeed, she believed herself letter perfect in thevery hardest page of the spelling-book some time before the fatefulevening.
"Oh, perhaps you think you know them all, Ruth Fielding!" exclaimedone of the little girls one day when the spelling-bee was beingdiscussed at recess. "But Miss Cramp doesn't stick to the speller. Youjust wait till she tackles the dictionary."
"The dictionary!" cried Ruth.
"That's what Miss Cramp does," the child assured her. "If she can'tspell them down out of the speller, she begins at the beginning of thedictionary and gives words out until she finds one that floors themall. You wait and see!"
So Ruth thought it would do no harm to study the dictionary a little,and taking her cue from what the little girls said, she remained inbetween sessions and began with "aperse," committing to memory as wellas she could those words that looked to be "puzzlers." Before the dayof the spelling-bee she believed that, if Miss Cramp didn't go beyondthe first letter of the alphabet, she would be fairly well grounded inthe words as they came in rotation.
Ruth knew that every other pupil in the school would have friends inthe audience that evening save herself. She wished that Aunt Alvirahcould have attended the spelling-bee; but of course her back and herbones precluded her walking so far, and neither of them dared askUncle Jabez to hitch up and take them to the schoolhouse in his wagon.
The schoolhouse was crowded, all the extra seats that could beprovided were arranged in rows, and, it being a mild evening, the menand bigger boys stood outside the open windows. There was a greatbustle and whispering until Miss Cramp's tinkling bell called theaudience as well as the pupils to order.
The scholars took their places according to their class standing in along row around the room. As one was spelled down he or she took aseat again, and so the class was rapidly thinned out, for many of thelittle folk missed on the very easiest words in the speller. Ruthstood within ten pupils of the head of the line at the beginning andwhen the spelling began she had an encouraging smile and nod fromHelen, who, with her brother, sat where they could see the girl fromthe Red Mill Ruth determined to do her best.
CHAPTER XIX
THE STING OF POVERTY
At first Miss Cramp's "giving out" of the words was like repeatedvolleys of small-arms in this orthographical battle. Every pupil wellknew the pages of two-syllable words beginning, "baker, maker, poker,broker, quaker, shaker" and even the boys rattled these off, grinningthe while in a most sheepish fashion at their elder brothers or theirwomen-folk, who beamed in pride upon them until such lists as "food,soup, meat, bread, dough, butter" bowled over the more shaky ones.
The first failures (and usually upon comparatively easy words) weregreeted with some laughter, and the ridiculed spellers sought theirseats with hanging heads. By and by, however, the failures were notall at the bottom of the class; here and there such lists as "inane,profane, humane, insane, mundane, urbane," or, "staid, unlaid,mermaid, prayed, weighed, portrayed" began to pick out uncertain onesthe entire length of the line.
Miss Cramp shot out word after word, her spectacles gleaming and hereyes twinkling. The grim little smile upon her lips when one big girlabove Ruth went down before "forswear," spelling it with an extra "e,"showed that the teacher considered the miss deserved to fail becauseof her heedlessness. Then, when she reached the list ending in "ay, eyand eigh" they fell like ripe huckleberries all down the line."Inveigh" dropped so many that it was indeed a massacre, and some ofthe nervous spellers got together such weird combinations of lettersto represent that single word that the audience was soon in a veryhilarious state.
"Move up," commanded Miss Cramp to the pupils left standing, and therewas a great clumping of feet as the line closed up. Not more than twodozen were standing by this time, and half an hour had not passed. Butafter that it was another story. The good spellers remained. Theyspelled carefully and quietly and a hush fell upon the whole room asMiss Cramp gave out the words with less haste and more precision.
The "seeds," as all the children called the puzzling list, flooredtwo, and several of the best spellers had to think carefully while thelist was being given out: "proceed, succeed, exceed, accede, secede,recede, impede, precede, concede, antecede, intercede, supersede."Fortunately Ruth, who now kept her eyes upon Miss Cramp's face,spelled carefully and correctly, without any sign of hesitancy. Thematch went on then, for page after page, without a pupil failing.Perhaps there was hesitation at times, but Miss Cramp gave anydeserving scholar ample time.
Page after page of the spelling-book was turned. That tricksey littlelist of "goblin, problem, conduct, rocket, pontiff, compact, prospect,ostrich" finally left but three scholars between Ruth and Julia at thehead of the class. One of these was Oliver Shortsleeves, a FrenchCanadian lad whose parents had Anglicised their name when they camedown into New York State. He was as sharp as could be and he hadpushed Julia Semple and Rosa Ball hard before in the spelling matches.But he was the only boy left standing within the next few minutes, andagain the pupils moved up. There were but fifteen of them. Rosa Ballcame next to Ruth, below her, and the girl from the Red Mill knew verywell that Miss Ball would only be too delighted to spell her, Ruth,down.
Indeed, when Ruth waited a moment before spelling "seraglio," Rosa inher haste blurted out the word, and Julia smiled and there was alittle rustle of expectancy. It was evident that many of the scholars,as well as the audience, thought Ruth had failed.
"Wait!" exclaimed Miss Cramp, sharply. "Did I pass that word to you,Rosa?"
"No, ma'am; but I thought..."
"Never mind what you thought. You know the rule well enough," saidMiss Cramp. "That will be your word, and I will give Ruth Fieldinganother. Spell 'seraglio' again, Rosa."
"'S e r a l g i o'," spelled Rosa.
"I thought in your haste to get ahead of Ruth you spelled it wrongly,Rosa," said Miss Cramp, calmly. "You may go down. Next--'Seraglio.'"
Miss Ball went down in tears--angry tears--but there was not muchsympathy shown her by the audience, and little by her fellow-pupils.It was soon seen that there was some sort of rivalry between Ruth andJulia, and that the girl from the Red Mill had not been treatedfairly.
Oliver Shortsleeves became sadly twisted up after hearing thoseimmediately before him spell in succession "schooner, tetrarch,pibroch and anarchy" and tried to spell "architrave" with so manyletters that he would have needed no more to have spelled it twiceover. So Ruth then became fourth in the line. She continued to spellcarefully and serenely. Nothing disturbed her poise, for she neitherlooked around the room nor gave heed to anything that went on saveMiss Cramp's distinctly uttered words.
On and on went the steady voice of Miss Cramp. She bowled over onepupil with "microcosm," another the next minute with "metonymy ";"nymphean" and "naphtha" sent two more to their seats; while thesilent "m" in "mnemonics" cut a most fearful swath in the remainder,so that after the smoke of that bomb was dissipated only Julia, Ruth,and two others stood of all the class.
Julia Semple had darted many angry glances et Ruth since the cuttingdown of her friend, Rosa Ball, and her flaunting of the girl
from theRed Mill, and her scornful looks, might easily have disturbed Ruth hadthe latter not been wise enough to keep her own gaze fixed upon theteacher.
Helen and Tom were delighted and plainly showed their enjoyment ofRuth's success. Now, as the situation became more strained, theaudience applauded when one of the spellers overcame a more thanordinarily difficult word. So that when the girl next to Ruth missed"tergiversation" and it passed to the girl from the Red Mill, whospelled it without hesitation, and correctly, Helen applauded softly,while Tom audibly exclaimed: "Good for Ruthie!"
This did not make Julia Semple any more