Spelling

= __SPELLING __ = = = In the early days, the ability to spell was not as important as the ability to form beautiful letters. This was all changed when Noah Webster and his spelling book came along around 1782. He published A Grammatical Institute of the English Language which was in three parts: a spelling book, a grammar book, and a reader. The spelling section, especially, won very wide acceptance because of its useful simplification of English spelling. The publication found a place in most of the schools of the United States.

One of the first effects of the publication of the “Grammatical Institute” was to make spelling a craze. Teachers began to pay attention to spelling and the pupil who could “spell down the whole school” ranked second only to the person who surpassed the rest of the students in arithmetic. In some schools, there was a prize for the best speller each day. The prize might have been a coin with a hole drilled through it. The coin was strung on a leather thong or on a cord and worn like a necklace by the good speller until the next day. At the end of the year, the best speller in the school was given the coin to keep. Sometimes the child who was the best speller was given a written certificate of good scholarship to take home. Once a week, frequently on Friday, the school would choose sides for a spelling match. The match often lasted for half of the afternoon. We can easily imagine that this was the most exciting part of the school week.

