The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-04-27

dairy fence, or stray bovine animals who dep
redated the paternal cornfelds. Not at all /;
she merely wanted certificate to teach dis
trict school, and the other trustees had sent
her to Mr.. Clermont to be examined.
Here was pretty kettle of fish for bash
ful young man, who was sailing unuer Ialse
colors ! How was l to know whether she was
qualified to be schoolma'am or not! And
how in the name of all that was desperate, was
J [ to get myself ont nf- is-hizhl5r emharras=
sing business, unless by fairly running away
and beating ignominious retreat through
the back Office door, into the pine woods be-
yond !
sNever!' p quoth to myself. 'I'll die at
my post sooner than run away, even if forty
thousand school ma'ams como after certif-
Gates
sSir p faltered the lady.
what is your name, ma 'am p I demanded
in busincss4ike manner, drawing a sheet of
paper toward me, and dipping my pen in the
| inkstand.
L knew I couldn't stand the arch, half mis-
chievous twinkle of those brown eyes if look
ed at her too often so 1 went on firmly.
How old are your
! Eighteen this month
Eighteen, heyY p I wrote down and hesi-
tated minute. What next to ask her I had
no more idea than the tongs in the corner. L
| WlsAeu JACK WOulQ come nome anu caGecnlSe
his own brown-cyed school ma'ams-no l
didn't either.
| what do you know?
| 90, plenty of things responded the fair
candidate, demurely. (Confcund these wom-
en-how quickly they discover when you are
at disadvantage 4 can sew, and knit, and
1 tried very hard to, from magisterially as
! I saw the roguish dimples playing around Jes-
bnn Of nj
catalogue with the stern query:
1 mean what are your educational qualif-
cations p
Jessie looked at me like a startled bird, the
mouth began to quiver and the hazel Urbs to
melt and swim. I moved uneasily on the
wood box, and two or three pine logs rolled
down around my ankles.
Come, now, don't be frightened I ex-
postulated, rubbing my bruised extremities
Don't please. All l want to know is, can
you say the multiplication table, and cast in
terest, and all that sort of thing.
Yes faltered Jessie
VI hat pretty little hand it was that futter-
cd so Dervously on her lap-wouldn't have |
liked to have set her portentously hard sum |
in the Double Rule of Three to work out just |
to watch the manipulations of that little hand. |
Let me see; which school is it you wish to |
teach I? soliloquized L, half aloud, convenient
ly pretending tc forget what l had never
known.
'At Elm Grove, SIR said Jessie meekly.
Elm Grove; why, my child, there are
scholars there twice your height and size, and
as unruly as aboriginal savages! Have you
duly considered the step you are about to
take
4 have, SIR she answered, the long, wet
lashes sweeping her flushed cheek 'but Lam
poor, and it is necessary for me to earn my
daily bread
set my teeth firmly together at the idea
of that delicate young creature in the tumble
down old hovel at Elm Grove, at the mercy
of dog cared spelling books and dinner bask
cts
Miss Gray L commenced emphaticaly.-
There-it inevitably happened so in my case
hat possessed Jack Clermont to drive up to
the door at that identical moment? Why
couldn't he have stayed away just five min
utes longer?
please favor me with your address, Miss
Gray I stanmered, hurriedly; the certif
Gates are not printed yet. l will see about
them in day or two
And when the quiet brown dress had futter-
ed from the room, discovered, all at once,
that the crimson glory was fading goomily
from the West, and the fire was dying out,
and things we're looking dismal enough to wei
come the noisy entrance of my friend Jack
and his cigar.
VI ell, my DOy, WnaG luck nave you naQ |
keeping Office to-day ?
Jack tossed fresh supply of logs on the
Ere and threw himself into the leather cush-
ioned chair, where she had Just sat-the
thoughtless scampi
1 Informed him briefly of my experience, ;
aging particular stress On the twenty-five dol
ar lecture, end slurring over the affair of the
,rumpled Dill, for which 1 had receipt in
'ull.
sAll right said Jack, in his merry, iovial |
Toice, that sounded like cheerful gale of
Wind in pine forest
'Why, you make splendid lawyer, Camp
ord But you bave not told me about that
pretty lady who was eopaing out as drove up G
what did she want pr
'Oh, she was after certificate to teach
chool up in Elm Grove. Say, Jack, this
chool ma'am branch must be a rather deli
ate piece of businsssin'your shere$f duties =
Not generalj said Jack. But what did y
-ou do with this one? Give her a certificate?
NO. said | thoughtfully
sAnd why not? Didn't 1 invest you with
imitless powers p =
Because said I, deliberately rising from
he wood box, and stretching my six feet of t
humanity to their altitude, because, Jack,
mean to marry that girl y
'Campford are you insane?'
NO; L think not
but you never saw her before y e.
well, but what then ! she suits exactly; Il
never knew just what sort of wife want Il
d, and now am fully convinced"
But suppose she wont have your b
'She will or I'll know the reason why! G.
Clermont burst iLto laugh. il
well, Campford, all that I have to say is u
o ahead and may Cupid speed you. Il
I acted upon his recommendation, and call
d upon Miss Jessie the next day, to tell her
hat the certificates would certainly be ready
n certain date. Then L found it necessary
} call several times to tell her why they were
ola.rod from d.tn to daIe So that Ii was p