£10 a Day.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6147, 20 August 1891, Page 3

£10 a Day.

MAKING PRETTY FAIR WAGES OtfT OP A TRICK THAT NOT EVERYBODY KNOWS. " How do you spell • choir ?' " inquired a vshort, pudgy commercial traveller, as ho sat at a table in the writing-room of a Birmingham hotel a few weeks ago. There were a dozen men busily writing at the same table, and as many more were reading newspapers. The abruptness of the question caused the writers to pause in their work, for the question apparently had not been addressed to any particular individual. The speaker reflectively nibbled the end of a penholder while waiting for a reply. A gentleman on the opposite side of the table finally called oufe : " What kind of a ' choir ' do you mean V " Why, a lot of singers in a church, you know. A church ' choir.' " "Q-ui-r-e." y Thank you." The commercial traveller again dipped his pon in ink preparatory to resuming his letter- writing. The other gentlemen could scarcely conceal their mirth. Again the writer paused to say, half apologetically : Seemed to me it ought to be spelt with a 'c' I was going to write it 'c-h-o-i-r.'" This waa too much for the gravity of the crowd, and after a hearty laugh one J of the gentlemen said : " We'll, if I were 1 in your place I'd spell it that way now, I think." " Well, I thought I could hardly bo mistaken about it," said the puzzled speller. Meanwhile the gentleman who had so kindly volunteered to spell the word became very nervous, and seemed inclined to get angry. " There are different ways to spell tho word * choir ' "he said, " and it makes all | the difference in the world whether you are trying to spell the name of a body of ; singers in a church or a certain quantity of paper. If you mean a company of church singers it is • q-u-i-r-e,' but if a quantity of paper it " " Well, hardly," remarked a flashilydressed Manchester traveller, laying down lis pen. " You will pardon me, my friend, j but you're wrong. You've got the two words mixed. ' Q-u-i r-e ' spells a church ] choir." '* Not by a long shot," stoutly insisted f the speller. "'Q-u-i-r-e' spells a church { choir — or it used to do when I went to school — and I'va got money right here in my clothes which says that it spells it < now." The speaker was decidedly angry, while the rest of the crowd wero rather amused at his discomforture. "Oh, well," remarked the Manchester , man, airily, *« it isn't worth while quarrelling about, anyway, especially since it can , be settled so easily. If you are so sure that ' q-u i-re' spells choir, suppose you back up your belief by a little wager— < say the cigars for the crowd — and we'll look in the dictionary over yonder, and ( end the controversy." " I'm agreed," was the hot rejoiner, "or I'll bet you LI or L 2 or L 5 that I'm right, and prove it by Nuttall's ' Standard Dictionary' in ten seconds." As he spoke ho pulled out a L 5 Bank ot England note, and the Manchester man quietly laid aLS note < on the table, which was promptly covered. The dictionary was brought forward. The Manchester traveller opened the book . and smiled like a nftm who knows that he J has a " sure thing " in sight as he turned 3 to the word "quire" and commenced reading tho definition — "a body of singers. See Choir." The silence that fell upon that room was unrelieved save by the rustle of two LB • bank notes as they were quietly folded and stowed away in the speller's vest poctet. j A week later, as I was enjoying a cigar < in a hotel at Edinburgh, I was startled 1 by hearing a familiar voice exclaim : "How do you spell choir 1 ?" Glancing < hastily around I was surprised to see at one end of the writing tables tho identical gentleman whose ignorance had caused such a commotion at Birmingham concerning thafe very word. Looking closer i I was equally surprised to find near him the benevolent gentleman who had kindly volunteered to spell the word for him at Birmingham, and who gained L 5 by doing ( so. Approaching the scene of battle I took a seat where I could observe the subsequent proceedings, and within one minute tho Birmingham performance had been duplicated, the speller pocketing L 7 this time as the result of his acumen. Accosting the winner, I said, quietly : "I see that you spell * choir ' now in just the same way that you did tho other day ab Birmingham." " Yes," he replied, " that's a pretty good way to spell it anywhere. It has netted my partner here and me about LlO a day for the last two months. It works nine times out of ten, and we take no risks, you see. It is the best snap I ever struck, and I used to work with some of tho slickesb boys in tho count; y, too." "But," ho added, confidentially, "if you ever tiy it you'd better keep both eyes i open, or you'll miss connections with the dictionary. You can find ' choir ' spelled and defined under the word ' quire ' in some dictionaries only. Some read 'quire — see choir' without giving any de.fini-

tion." ________