Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-12-13

When skies are dark ana wild,
As in the happy day when all was bright
Let me hold fast Thy hand
In deaths dark valley as in pastures green,
So at last may stand
In that dear country which my faith has seen.
THE sCHooLMAsTER OF RUS.
SLAM BAR.
From the San Francisco Morning Call.
"When is he expected?"
t'Thcy said he was coming i'll to-
nights stage"
ale taught in Frisco, didn't hep
eyes; | guess he was in the de-
partment."
The doctors wife was authority on
all matters in Russian Bar, and on
this last sensation-the coming of a
schoolmaster-she freely cnlighten-
ed her neighbor, Mrs. Blunt, a
plump widow, whose miner husband
had died a few months ago. There
was not much to gossip about in
that quiet village. The arrival and
departure of the stage lrought the
people to their doors three times a
week, and if q stranger was noticed
cnvoys were Immediately dispatched
to the hotel, to learn his name and
business, and the probable length OF
his stay. But now Russian Bar
was to have new schoolmaster,
and the folks wondered much if he
would have any trouble with Sam
Seymour, the butchers boy, or Ike
Walter, an unruly spirit who had
knocked down and pummeled the
last perceptor who undertook to
teach him school discipline. The
trustees were powerless in these
matters, and declared that if a
schoolmaster was not able to ''get
away" with the boys in square,
stand-up fight, he might as well
pick up his traps and leave Russian
Bar.
On the very evening of the ex-
pected arrival, Seymour and Walter,
the leading spirits of the mutinous
schoolboys, met at 4 pool, from
which both were endeavoring to
coax few speckled trout for sup
per.
"Have you heard what the new
chap is like, Sam?" said Ike, as
he impaled wriggling worm on his
hook.
"No; have you?"
"Father told Jake, the barkeepcr,
that he was very young"
"And small?" 49,.
eyes"
81 guess he won't stay long in
town, Ike"
81 guess not, Sam. School amt
good for us, such fine weather as
this"
The worthless sat and fished in
silence for some time, and then Ike
produced bunch of cigarettes and
passed them to his friend. At last,
finding that the fibs would not bite,
they shouldcred their poles and
struggled up to the village, pausing
for moment to stone n Chinaman's
rooster which had strayed too far
from the protection of the wash
house.
THE sCHOOLMAsTER.
Philip Houghton was school
master from necessity, and not
taste. Like many who have been
educated as gentlemen in one sense
of the word, that is, without the ac-
quaintancc with any special pursuit
which might be turned to any par
ticular account in the struggle for
bread, he found himself adrift in
California with nothing to fall back
on. Seeing an advertisement in II
city paper for competent teacher
to take argc of the school at Rus
sian Bar, he answered it and was
accepted at venture. Putting his
few moveables together-a pair of
old foils and a set of well-worn box
ing gloves, for Houghton was an
accomplished boxer and fencer-hc
bought his ticket for Russian Bar.
He found the stage driver a COM
municativc, pleasant fellow, who, at
his request, described the charac-
teristics of his future home. In
deed, his description of the class of
boys whom Houghton was to take
charge OF was not very encour-
aging.
"You'll find them hard lot" said
he, "and they're all on the muscle,
too" @
"What is about the weight of my
oldest:" asked Houghton, good-hu-
moredly. "You see, if l have to
exercise something more than NOR
al suasion, l want to get posted on
the physique of my men,"
"Wcll, Sam Seymour is about the
strongest"
"And what is about the size of
the redontable Ike?"
"Well, guess he tops you by half
head"
go, I expect we'll get along well
enough together" said Houghton;
"and / suppose this is the first
glimpse of Russian Bar" he added,
as turn in the road brought them
in view of that picturesque little vii
lagc.
THE stage bowled along the
smooth road and past the great
white oak, under whose friendly
bran, hes the teamsters were accus.
toned to make their noontidc halt.
"I'll set you down at the hoteP
said the driver. "Therc's Perkins
the proprietor; that fat man smo
king on the stoop."
Ioughton confessed to himself
that the prospect before him was
anything but a prcpossessing one
He was not Of a combative nature
though he liked a little danger fo,
the excitement, but game Of fisti
cuff with dirty, mutinous boy had
neither glory nor honor for mar
who had been one of the hardes
hittcrs in his college,.
The folks were all at their doors
as the stage clattered up the single
street, and the slender, good-lookinl
young man up by the driver wal
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