Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1880 — A Literary Curiosity. [ARTICLE]

A Literary Curiosity.

Tire following rather curious piece of compoeitiou was recently placed upon the blackboard at a teachers’ institute, and a prise of a Webster’s Dictionary offered to any person who would read and pronounce every word correctly. The book was not carried off, liowever, as 12 was the lowest number of mistakes made in pronunciation: “A sacrilegious sou of Belial, who suffered from bronchitis, .having exhausted his finances, in order to make good the deficit, resolved to ally himself to a comely, lenient and docile young lady of the Malay or Caucasian race. He accordingly purchased a calliope and coral necklace of a chameleon hue, and securing a suite of rooms at a principal hotel, engaged the head waiter as his coadjutor. He then dispatched a letter of the most unexceptional caligraphy extant, inviting the young lady to a matinee. Bhe revolted at the idea, refused to consider herself sacrificable to his desires, and sent a polite note of refusal, on receiving which, he procured a carbine and a bowie knife and said he would not now forge letters hymenial with the queen, went to an isolated spot, severed his jugular vein, and discharged the contents of his carbine into bis abdomen. The debris was removed by the coroner.” The mistakes in pronunciation were made on the following words: Sacrilegious, Belial, bronchitis, exhausted, finances, deficit, comely, lenient, docile, Malay, calliope, chameleon, suite, coadjutor, caligraphy, matinee, sacrificable, carbine, hymenial, isolated, jugular and debris.