After completing high school in Philadelphia, Spaeth attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was active sportsman, graduating with a degree in philology in 1887.

He received his doctorate in philology from Leipzig University in 1892, and subsequently continued his studies in France and Italy.

Since 1895 he was on the faculty of Central High School in New Jersey, where he taught English and helped form the Athletic Commission.

The adult educational project initiated by Spaeth at Princeton would since be expanded to all parts of the United States.

Spaeth was the author of several papers on English literature, and was a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Modern Language Association, Phi Beta Kappa and various other societies Spaeth's first wife, Marie Tinette Hauhgton, died in 1937.