The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1858-11-04
For the Journal.
OUR SCHOOL.
ny rLossY.

plagued master, when William Hunter first
came among us, to act in the capacity of school
master. But widest, and most mischievous of
us oil, was Margaret Norton, or Mag, as she
chose to be called Mag. was seventeen, had
attended seminary year, and had come home
TO spend the winter. From some unaccounta-
BILE whim, no one knew what, she had decided
to attend the district school. 1t could not be
that the fact of William Hunters being young,
and handsome, had any effect on her, for no one,
(save his old aunt who wuS all in furry of
expectation to see the nephew, she had not seen
since he was lad of twelve,) had ever seen him
before he entered the school room, Monday
morning. with load of books under his arm.
1t could not be his good looks say but really
Maggie did look mos. 6ewitchingly handsome
$50 we thought on the first day of school.
She was of medium height, fair complexion,
eyes of so dark blue that at times they seemed
almost black, and with the merriest glance in
them that was ever seen; hair light brown,
with the slightest tinge of gold, and hung in
curls loosely on her shoulders, a dark crimson
de'laine dress and plain linen collar, with the
neatest morocco boot, completed her costume
we sat together, Mag. and |, and if ever the
spirit of mischief was embodied in person,
that person was Maggie Norton. She seemed to
delight in tormsnting Mr.. Hunter, and cosantly
engaged in some piece of mischief which was
80 contryed and executed that none could tell
who was the inventor--at least none who would
be likely to tell, for Mag was the idol. the queen
of our school. We all took pride in her genius,
her fun'loving spirit. She it was who helped
the younger in their reading lessons, and the
older in their Algebra and Legendre; wrote the
French exercises for the classical, and the com
positions for the unnitiated. She always had
her lessons, and yet she was never seen to study.
Fun and frolic seemed the moving spring of her
existence,
Mr.. Hunter was, as have said, a young man
and a handsome one. Just freed from his
studies, he had come to spend the winter with
his aunt, and doubtlessly thinking to replenish
his purse, he had engaged the village school,
1t was no easy task to keep us in order, as he
found out before long, for the contemptuous
curl of his upper lip vanished and frown came
on his brow, in its stead. And truly we were
rot very prepossessing crowd, taken all in ALL
ragged boys, and girls not much better, from five
years old up to twenty--numbering fifty in all.
And no wonder his brow darkened as he saw
the petty annoyances to which he was daily
subjected, and the perpetrators of which he
either could not, or did not choose to discover.
Among our number was one, the son Of
wealthy man, who had lately came in our midst,
and who, on account of the wealth Of his faith
er and his own fine clothes, sought TO impress
us with the idea of his own importance, and
not being over-stocked with brains, he was made
the butt of many a jest, which, innocent fellow,
he often never suspected. Now this young gen
tleman had arrived at the mature age of eigh-
teen, and being impressed with his own charms,
both personal and mental, and discovering the
beauty of our queenly Mag, thought her fiji
companion for himself and the only equal he
had in the school. This afforded us infinite
amusement, and the more SO as we found that
she was excessively annoyed if any mention was
made of Arthur Clemens before our schoolmas
ter. Why it should annoy her so, we never
could see. During the recitation of a class in
Arithmet ic, one day, Mr.. Arthur began in his
grandiloquent style TO explain an example, but
made failure, and we all had Il hearty laugh at
his discontinue. Mag, as usual, taking the lead.
Poor Arthur vas terribly embarrassed, not only
with the failure, but also the laugh which fol-
lowed it, and at intermission, he asked Maggie
why she had laughed, adding. "you should be
more charitable to US poor gentlemen"
"Ah Mr., Arthur, you know we ladies must
have our joke" was the reply. The "lUe ladies"
was so emphatic that even Mr.. Arthur could
not fail 20 see the meaning, and turning on his
heel, he left us in roar OF laughter. One of the
younger boys wrote on slip Of paper :" We is
&c ntleman, We isl and watching his oppor-
tunity, fastened it TO the back Of Arthur's coat,
who, unaware Of it, could not imagine what
they were so pleased about. Of course no one
would accuse Maggie of doing, or teaching 9TH
ers to do, so unladylike thing, of course not
II during the winter SNOWFALL should happen
to knock the cap from off Arthurs head, or red
den his nose, none would think Mag. would be
guilty of such deed. To bs sure she had been
known to throw snowballs, or even wash the
faces of some OF the ugly boys, If she thought it
necessary. But these things grew to be of such
frequent occurrence that Mr.. Arthur found it
necessary 10 complain to Mr. Hunter, who forth
with forbade any further such demonstrations
under the penalty of being punished with a
ferule, which Mr. Hunter had been known TO
use on more than one occasion with much sever
ity. During recess of the very same day OF said
declaration, as Arthur was very quietly endeav'
oring to overturn a sled with little girl on it,
Mag coolly packed SNOWFALL, and the next
moment Arthur was picking his cap from offthe
ground. Mr.. Hunter saw the cap fall but did
not see who threw the ball, and Immediately
school being called to order, demanded who was
the offender.
No one replied. The question was repeated
in no very gentle tone. "Msg. Norton" said o
ragged boy, whose red face bore pretty strong
evidence to a severe washing il had received