TIME WAS.

TIME WAS.
297.6

Time was when there were spelling bees
In which we did compete,
From up the town or down the town,
This side or ‘cross the street;
But now they’re sadly out of date,
In fact quite obsolete.

For rose a man of fertile brain,
(And Roosevelt was his name)
Who launched phonetic spelling
And so earned undying fame.
Indeed, beside this hero great
All other men seem tame.

So now we do not go to skule
Y shood we, there’s no nede?
We lisen to the sound ov wurds
And thus we rite or rede.
What care we thow the world at large
Is running awl to sede!

The collidges may hay thir say,
We’ll not by them b led;
We’ll rize or fawl, we’ll sink or swim,
With our grate nashon’s hed;
For spelling’s mity ezy now,
When awl is dun and sed.
-Marian Taylor.