I concluded to rise, but a certificate of competency was required,
and I presented myself for examination to the proper official, the
editor and proprietor of 'The True Democrat' whose office was across
the bridge, nearly opposite Matheson's woollen factory. I found the
editor and his compositor labouring over the next edition of the
paper.

The editor began the examination with the alphabet. I said in
England we used twenty-six letters, and I named all of them correctly
except the last. I called it "zed," but the editor said it was
"zee," and I did not argue the point.

He then asked me to pick out the vowels, the consonants, the flats,
the sharps, the aspirates, the labials, the palatals, the dentals,
and the mutes. I was struck dumb; I could feel the very foundation
of all learning sinking beneath me, and had to confess that I did not
know my letters.

Then he went on to spelling and writing. My writing was barely
passable, and my spelling was quite out of date. I used superfluous
letters which had been very properly abolished by Webster's
dictionary.

At last the editor remarked, with becoming modesty, that he was
himself of no account at figures, but Mr. Sims would put me through
the arithmetic. Mr. Sims was the compositor, and an Englishman; he
put me through tenderly.

When the examination was finished, I felt like a convicted impostor,