ncomprehensibility," and they finished up the
"bilities" and the "alities" with a rush and changed McGuffey's for
Webster, with five on Laddie's side and three on the Princess', and
when they quit with it, the Princess was alone, and Laddie and our
little May facing her.

From that on you could call it real spelling. They spelled from the
grammars, hyperbole, synecdoche, and epizeuxis. They spelled from the
physiology, chlorophyll, coccyx, arytenoid, and the names of the bones
and nerves, and all the hard words inside you.

They tried the diseases and spelled jaundice, neurasthenia, and
tongue-tied. They tried all the occupations and professions, and went
through the stores and spelled all sorts of hardware, china and dry
goods. Each side kept cheering its own and urging them to do their
best, and every few minutes some man in the back of the house said
something that was too funny. When Miss Amelia pronounced "bombazine"
to Laddie our side cried, "Careful, Laddie, careful! you're out of your
element!"

And when she gave "swivel-tree" to the Princess, her side whispered,
"Go easy! Do you know what it is? Make her define it."

They branched over the country. May met her Jonah on the mountains.
Katahdin was too much for her, and Laddie and the Princess were left to
fight it out alone. I didn't think Laddie liked it. I'm sure he never
expected it to turn out that way. He must have been certain he could
beat her, for after he finished English there were two or three other
languages he knew, and every one in the district felt that he could
win, and expected him to do it. It was an awful place to put him in, I
could see that. He stood a little more erect than usual, with his eyes
toward the Princess, and when his side kept crying, "Keep the prize,
Laddie! Hold up the glory of the district!" he ground out the words as
if he had a spite at them for not being so hard that he would have an
excuse for going down.

The Princess was poised lightly on her feet, her thick curls, just
touching her shoulders, shining in the light; her eyes like stars, her
perfect, dark oval face flushed a rich red, and her deep bosom rising
and falling with excitement. Many times in later years I have tried to
remember when the Princess was loveliest of all, and that night always
stands first.

I was thinking fast. Laddie was a big man. Men were strong on purpose
so they could bear things. He loved the Princess so, and he didn't