Recently, the Scripps National Spelling Bee, held in Washington, DC, celebrated its centennial. Since 1925, children across our fair land have competed in classroom, school, and regional spelling bees, hoping to make it to the big dance, the Scripps National Spelling Bee. On the model of the collectively busy bee, we call these events spelling bees. In 19 th-century America, a bee indicated a community effort in which neighbors pitched in, often to help out a family. Examples include chopping bee, husking bee, logging bee, quilting bee, house- or barn-raising bee, sewing bee, spinning be ,and, ultimately, spelling bee. One night when Joel Chandler Harris, creator of the Uncle Remus tales, was at his editorial desk, an old-time reporter looked