Wareham, and Oscar B. Wing of Manchester, Mass., and a niece, Miss Helen C. Wing.

The funeral service will be at the family home, Main street, Wareham, at 2:00 p. m., Saturday, August 28.

(From the Wareham Courier) *****

Unfinished report written for the reunion, held at Sandwich, Mass., August 25, 26 and 27, 1926:

It is indeed a pleasure to meet once more in old Sandwich, which holds so many happy memories of past re-unions. I have had the privilege of attending every re-union and so of knowing somewhat all of those men and women who made those first gatherings.

A re-union to-day cannot help having its sad side, and yet if those who have gone can look down, I am sure they are glad we are meeting together once more.

You who are subscribers to the Owland most of your are,-know how I came to be in charge of the Wing publication, for I have written the story of it in its pages, but for those who do not know I will say briefly, that I undertook it to save its going out of existence, to hold it together until some better provision could be made for it.

The most valuable feature of the Owl, the history which Col. Wing began in the Dec. 1913 issue and broke off in March 1924,-I have not been able to continue. It has made my own work infinitely easier, but it ought to be printed and made available for those who would like the history complete. I was convinced that the only way to make the magazine a success financially was to increase the subscription list and I agreed to undertake both the editing and the business management if there could be a return to the old price of one dollar, but I did not realize the very small paying subscription list. I will say that I have added ninety three (93) names to the list-but loss from death and withdrawal make the net gain not so large, and we need more subscribers to make it pay its own way.

MARY G. WING

CHURCH ACTIVITIES

In connection with her church activities the cause of World Missions made a very strong appeal. The work and workers in the foreign fields, the education of children, the care of orphans in the Near East; and in the homeland the struggling schools and colleges, where the students were making sacrifices to obtain an education, all had an interest for her; and to each and all, in so far as she was able, she reached out the helping hand.

For eight years,

(1918-1926), she served the Old Colony Alliance of the Woman's Home Missionary Union, of Massachusetts, as its treasurer, and at the semi-annual meeting held at the First Congregational Church, Lund's Corner, New Bedford, Mass., on Nov. 3, 1926, a Memorial Service was held for her.

Remarks were made by Mrs. John D. Waldron, president of Alliance, and prayer offered by Mrs. Roy B. Guild of the Trinitarian Church of New Bedford.

Mrs. Waldron said: "Mary Gertrude Wing was very dear to me. We had worked together for so long, it seemed like one of my family going."

She served the Old Colony Alliance nine years as its treasurer, only the unselfish thus toil.

She had a gift for showing great needs to the churches and then in response to funds sent in would send such a note of thanks as to make you feel you had done her a personal favor.

Besides the regular budget, in itself a momentous task, three times we have been asked for special gifts, and it has fallen on Miss Wing each time to raise it.

When the last call came for a thousand dollars for Schauffler School she has planned it so well, that the raising of it will be no burden on her successor.

"Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth". He must have loved the Old Colony Alliance. Let us "Carry on."

The service was closed by Miss Flora Mason who expressed the Alliance's appreciation of Mary Gertrude and her work as follows:

"The news of the death of Miss Mary

Gertrude Wing came as a shock to her associates in the Old Colony Alliance. To each of us who knew her it brought the sense of a personal loss, and we could not think of the office of treasurer apart from her.

From the organization of the Alliance she had carried the work skillfully and graciously. Into it she put her business ability, her capacity for having things just right, down to the least detail that was within her control, and into it she put the enthusiasm of a vital interest in the cause which it was her office to serve. A contribution from a new source, or an increased amount from some Al

liance, gave her as much delight as if it were a gift for her own use and pleasure.

She had a radiant personality, and she gave always the impression that she was happy in whatever she was doing.

We know that her faith was such that she would look upon death as the opening to a larger and finer life, and we must be glad that there was for her the continued activity and lively interest and enjoyment in this world's work until the time for her to go into the new life beyond.

We share with one another the blessed memory of her companionship in the work of our churches to set forward the Kingdom of God, and we join together in expressing to her family our sympathy in the sorrow of their loss."

After the burning of the old Colonial Church at Wareham with which she had been associated since childhood, and in the belfry of which had but recently been placed a memorial clock, she wrote:

"No more shall the clock in the belfry tower
Tell the hours to the listening air,

No more shall the sweet-voiced bell ring out
Its summons to Sabbath prayer.

the New Bedford Standard of June 20, 1926.

AN OLD TIME SPELLING MATCH

By Mary Gertrude Wing

(Reminiscenses of Miss Wing's mother, a pupil of district No. 7 are the basis of this story of old fashioned day.)

The spelling contests, so popular just at present, are a revival,-the spelling match was a popular form of entertainment for the boys and girls of long ago.

The winter of 1842 was a memorable one for the young people of South Dartmouth. Six young men from the Friends' Academy in Providence had come to teach in the district schools of the town. District No. 7 was a one-room school house at the head of the Gulf Road, in the corner lot on the right. This school was taught by Joseph Parker, tall, dignified, and serious of manner. District

No. 8 was down the Bakerville road and was presided over by Richard Wanzer. These two young men, though of opposite types-the latter being unusually full of fun and laughter were fast friends. Their boarding place was the home of Abner Tucker, school committee man for the district, a large house at the end of an avenue of spruces; and having no children of her own, made where the good wife, Tabitha Tucker, much of them in a motherly fashion. On Saturday nights it was a gathering place for the six young teachers, and fun and boyish pranks indulged inand indulgently permitted-a reaction. from the well-maintained dignity of the week. Often the four guests remained for the night, but in the morning of "First Day" the six must be in attendance at the old Apponegansett Meeting House, where their host, Abner Tucker, occupied a high seat in the meeting.

In addition to the usual school sessions, evening schools were opened in District 7 and 8, for all who wished to attend, a privilege which children and young people hailed with delight, as the evening school was more in the nature of an entertainment and a diversion, rather than along the line of the regular day's work. They were drilled in memor

izing feats, long selections were learned and recited, and special attention was given to spelling. The two schools paid monthly visits back and forth, when memorizing contests were held, as well as spelling matches, and various mental "stunts" were performed-which, however, they would not have recognized by the modern term.

At the end of the winter came the closing event, when the two schools met together at No. 7 for the great contest. It was a clear and cold winter night. The boys who were serving as janitors had swept a broad path through the snow to the road, had built the fire and brought in extra chairs and benches; and the girls had added a festive air by festoons and wreaths of evergreen about the room. At 7 o'clock a jingling of bells announced the first arrivals, and a laughing company of boys and girls came trooping into the warm schoolroom. They were soon followed by others, some coming on foot and some in pungs. Fathers and mothers, and young people from the other districts of the town, helped to make a merry company. From a farm house down the road came a troop of Johnson children, who were noted in the district for their ability to spell. In whatever else they might be deficient they were sure to win when it came to spelling, and the champion speller of District No. 7 was the youngest of the group, little Emeline Johnson. Distrist No. 8, too, had its champion in Andrew Smith, the oldest and biggest boy in school, so that interest and excitement over the coming contest was very keen.

The schoolroom was crowded when the two schoolmasters arrived. The guests were seated on benches and chairs, every available space being used, while the two schools were crowded together on the front rows which stretched across the room. Joseph Parker, master of ceremonies, opened the exercises with a little speech to the assembled guests, bidding them welcome, and saying that his pupils had worked hard for this occasion, as he was sure those from No. 8 also had done, and he was glad so many had shown their interest by coming. The first number on the

program was a long recitation by Fidelia Johnson, "The Storm King," beginning, "I come from the fields of frozen north." Then followed a drill in concert by the pupils of No. 8, on the capital cities of the United States. No. 7 gave the bays around the globe. Together the two schools named the principal rivers. Countries were located and states were bounded; the world was divided by latitudes and longitudes and zones and areas were correctly given. John Allen, from No. 8, recited "John Gilpin's Ride", and then as a relaxation from the mental strain the two schools were permitted the popular stunt of spelling in concert, 'C-o-n, Con, there's your con, s-t-a-n, stan, there's your stan, there's your Con-stan; t-i, ti, there's your ti, there's your stan-ti, there's your Con-stan-ti;" and so on to the end of the long word, till with a burst they reached the "Constan-ti-no-pull."

After this feat and a short intermission, came the event of the evening, the long-anticipated spelling match. There was a moving and changing of seats as the two schools lined up against opposite walls, the guests taking seats vacated by the pupils. There were 22 on each side. Joseph Parker gave out the words to District No. 8 and Richard Wanzer to No. 7, and for a time neither side made a failure. Each school used the same speller, in which they had been drilled from cover to cover. Finally each teacher reverted to a list made by himself, and presently one and another in No. 7 went down. Now one of No. 8 missed on psychology-and one of No. 7 on physiognomy. The ranks grew thinner as the words grew harder and more unusual, until little Emeline Johnson and Big Andrew Smith were left, either to fail or to win glory for the school each now represented. Emeline's eyes were sparkling, her dark hair was parted in the middle and hung in long braids down either side of her face. She wore a new red and black plaid dress that her mother had finished for the occasion. Two red spots glowed in her cheeks, but she stood her ground calmly. For five minutes the words simply pattered back and forth, as they were given out and promptly spelled.

Then Joseph Parker gave Andrew the word syzygy, and for the first time Andrew hesitated. "S-y-g-y-i" he stammered. "Wrong!" and Andrew dropped to his seat, "S-y-z-y-g-y", came unhesitatingly from across the room—and a great cheer went up for "Little Emeline", as she sat down and put her head upon the desk in a fit of shyness. Abner Tucker, the committeeman, stepped forward with a book in his hand and called her name. Blushing bashfully, she went forward to receive the bookthen the exercises were ended. How they crowded around her and cheered, especially the older brothers and sisters, who had gone down before her! Andrew Smith was a good sport and did not show the chagrin he naturally felt over his defeat. "You beat me all right, Emeline," he said. "Noah Webster will have to add on to his dictionary to catch you."

As the laughing crowd dispersed from the schoolhouse, Andrew Smith was the last to go. As he tucked his two sisters and a neighbor into his pung he showed a bit how he felt. "I wouldn't mind being beaten by a boy of my size, but to do down before that little Emeline Johnson! Well!" But the last of the sentence was lost in the jangling of bells, as the horse started down the road And then the quiet of those olden days settled down upon the country schoolhouse.

* ****

The Closing of the Panama Exposition which she attended in 1915 inspired the following:

THE LIGHTS ARE OUT

The lights are out: the City's streets Deserted are, and still.

Where multitudes but yesterday

Surged back and forth at will.

The lights are out: Descending Night
In sadness droops her wings;
The echo of the last sweet song
Around her softly sings.

The lights are out: the jeweled tower
Grows dim, as fades the day.
The gates are closed; departing feet
Sound faint and far away.

The City's little span of life,
Such labor was it worth?
Must all its glories fade away
And perish from the earth?

Ah, no! In myriad hearts it lives,

This City by the Sea, A vision and prophetic dream Of cities yet to be.

For men shall build more nobly yet,
And loftier towers shall rise,
As Aspirations outstretched hand
Points upward to the skies.

And men shall paint with colors rare, Amid earth's toil and strife, Immortal pictures that shall bless

And brighten human life.

And men shall chisel wondrous forms
That speak a grander truth,
And mould and shape with skillful hands
The plastic mind of youth.

And men of dreams shall do, and dare,
And rend the earth apart,

Till Brotherhood, from sea to sea,
Shall flow from heart to heart.

The lights are out; yet still there shines
Above the darkened way
The Star of Hope, to usher in
The fairer, sunlit Day.

-MARY GERTRUDE WING. *****

A few Extracts from the Many Letters received by her Sister, Dora M. Wing.

"I cannot express in words what I feel in heart over the passing of your gifted sister. She always impressed me as a rare combination of character and dispisition with the word Christan prefixed in captal letters to each."

"She started me on my road to a higher education and she never failed to keep me encouraged and glad that I had started. By her teaching and example I was led to join the Christian church. To no one person am I more indebted than I am to her, for what she did for me in the old days, and for the influence of her beautiful and illumined character ever since she became my Sunday School teacher."

"I am sure that I shall not succeed if I tell only of my sense of loss. The world will seem a less happy place to me without Mary in it. She has been such a good friend, always giving more of herself than she would allow herself to receive. I cannot hope to have in this life a better friend, and I am sure I am a better man because I have known her. Strong in her affection, enthusiastic in helpfulness and true as steel always, it was easy for her to make and hold friends and make them prize her friendship."

"I cannot express my sorrow as I

would. I have lost one of the best friends that I ever had or ever will