Baseball and croquet matches are as unknown as Olympian chariot-races.

Spelling and shucking[10] are the only public competitions.
So the fatal spelling-school had to be appointed for the Wednesday of the second week of the session, just when Ralph felt himself master of the situation.

Not that he was without his annoyances.

One of Ralph's troubles in the week before the spelling-school was that he was loved.
The other that he was hated.

And while the time between the appointing of the spelling tournament and the actual occurrence of that remarkable event is engaged in elapsing, let me narrate two incidents that made it for Ralph a trying time.
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 10: In naming the several parts of the Indian corn and the dishes made from it, the English language was put to many shifts.