The State Inspector’s Chicken Dinner Challenge
A White Bluffs student wins a state-wide academic challenge from a visiting inspector.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Last year when Mr. Twitmyer visited us, he made the statement that he would give a chicken dinner to the boy or girl who could name the counties and county seats in the state of Washington. No one was able to do it at the time, but George Wheeler resolved that when Mr. Twitmyer came again, he would accept his challenge. On Tuesday morning, George was all ready, and named the thirty-nine counties and county seats without a moment’s hesitation. Mr. Twitmyer stated that George was the first boy in the state who had won the challenge, and gave him the money with which to buy a chicken dinner.
“George was the first boy in the state who had won the challenge.”
This reflects the era's emphasis on rote civic geography and the highly personal, often eccentric way state officials interacted with rural students. It serves as a reminder of a time when the 'accredited list' for a school was a hard-won badge of community identity.
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