Two boys were set to study the same spelling lesson. When it was time to
write the lesson, one boy knew that a certain word “had an _i_ and an _e_
in it,” but he could not tell which came first, so he guessed and failed.
When the teacher pronounced another word, he wasn’t just sure what she
did say, so again he guessed and again he failed. When called upon to
read the words in the lesson, he left off final letters and slurred other
letters, so that he did not even pronounce the words correctly, and as a
perfectly pronounced word is half spelled, he failed once more. The other
boy had a perfect paper.
The teacher said: “You boys had the same list of words to study, and the
same time in which to master them. You had the same chance to hear them
pronounced correctly and to pronounce them yourselves. Yet John has a
perfect paper, and Tom has a failure. Do you know why?”
“John is a natural-born speller,” answered Tom. “I am not.”
“Nonsense!” replied the teacher. “John has trained himself to _see
exactly_, to make a good mind picture of the word, just as the successful
scout did of the enemy’s lines, and so with his pencil he can reproduce
it exactly. He, like the same scout, has trained his ear to _hear
exactly_, and his mind to _reproduce exactly_. That’s all that is needed
to make a born speller.”
Which scout did Tom most resemble? Which would you rather be like?