med Rita, and her elderly neighbor took a
chair. Others of the class dropped out, leaving only our four
acquaintances,--Dic, Billy, Sukey, and Rita. Dic went out on "a" in
place of "i" in collectible, Sukey turning him down. Rita had hoped he
would win the contest and had determined, should it narrow down to
herself and him, to miss intentionally, if need be. After Dic had taken
a chair, judgment fell to and upon Sukey. She began "j-u-d-g-e--there's
your judge;" whereupon Billy Little said, "Sink the e," and Sukey sank,
leaving Billy Little and Rita standing against the wall, as if they were
about to be married. Billy, of course, was only awaiting a good
opportunity to fail in order that the laurels of victory might rest upon
Rita's brow.

"We will now spell and syllable a few sentences," said Wetmore. "Mr.
Little, I give you the sentence, 'An abominable bumblebee with his tail
cut off.'"

It must be remembered that in spelling these words and sentences each
syllable was pronounced separately and roundly. B-o-m was a full grown,
sonorous bom. B-u-m was a rolling bum, and b-l-e was pronounced bell
with a strong, full, ringing, liquid sound. The following italics show
the emphasis. Billy slowly repeated the sentence and began:--

"A-n--there's your an; a--there's your a; there's your an-a;
b-o-m--there's your _bom_; there's your _a_-bom; there's your
_an_-a-_bom_; i--there's your i; there's your _bom_-i; there's your
_a_-bom-i; there's your _an_-a-bom-i; n-a--there's your na; there's your
_i_-na; there's your _bom_-i-na; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_; there's
your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_; b-l-e--there's your bell; there's your
_na_-bell; there's your _i_-na-bell; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell;
there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-bell; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell;
b-u-m--there's your bum; there's your _bell_-bum; there's your
_na_-bell-bum; there's your _i_-na-_bell_-bum; there's your
_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_bum_; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-_bell_-_bum_;
there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_bum_; b-l-e--there's your bell;
there's your _bum_-bell; there's your _bell_-bum-_bell_; there's your
_na_-bell-_bum_-bell; there's your _i_-na-bell-_bum_-bell; there's your
_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_bum_-bell; there's your
_a_-bom-i-_na_-bell-_bum_-bell; there's your
_an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_bum_-bell; b-e-e--there's your bee; there's
your _bell_-bee; there's your _bum_-bell-bee; there's your
_bell_-bum-_bell_-bee; there's your _na_-bell-_bum