p. 25 | Learned to Spell Three Times

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Oct 4, 1906

Learned to Spell Three Times

The following is a good illustration of cases which should not confuse teachers. We are all creatures of habit; but we are not all pathological cases. Let us beware of teaching spelling with so little variety in method and in the cultivation of habits that the child must perform incantations before he can think:—

“Think of a man’s learning how to spell three times, and then not being able to spell correctly,” said an observant man who takes an interest in subjects of this sort, “and you will have my case summed up exactly. I am not what you would call a bad speller by any means. But I stumble now and then, and stumble badly. Why is it? It is the simplest thing in the world. I grew up in the country, attended a country school, and my first spelling was under the rule of the old-time school-teacher. I learned how to spell on my feet. It is a curious fact that for a long time I could not spell the simplest words unless I stood up. Standing, I could spell anything, and, in fact, was always the winner in the spelling bee. No one could turn me down, as we used to say in the country. Well, after this, I learned how to spell with my pencil. All my spelling talent went into my pencil. My tongue forgot the art, and whether standing or sitting I could not spell a word unless it belonged to the simplest kind, without using my pencil. Now I began to use the typewriter, and consequently had to learn how to spell again. Ask me how to spell a word now, and I shall have to go to the typewriter unless the word is a very simple one. My tongue won’t spell it, and my pencil will refuse to write it. So I have learned to spell three times, and, as I said before, I am not a good speller yet.”—The Western Journal of Education.