City teachers, now-a-days, are greatly diverted when they hear of a country school, way back in some rural district far from a railroad, in which children are taught to read and spell on the ancient plan of calling the names of letters; b-a—ba, b-e—be, b-i—bi, etc.; running the consonent letters from B to Z with the vowels following; a-b—ab, e-b—eb, and so on to a-z—az, i-z—iz; ending at u-z—uz, when the name of the land where dwelt the patient Job is struck. Such syllabating is now gone out of fashion.
Source: wiktionary