The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-08-15

and secured, washed out his sole white
shirt, busted and Strengthened his battered
old hat, and mended his trowsers.
Deeply interested In Jake's fortunes, we
watched the proceedings.
but jake" said Jenny Smith one day,
"what are you to do for coat?"
Unhappy suggestion! Jake looked
aghast. He hadn't thought Of that.
Certainly he couldn't make his appearance
In that overgrown coachman's rig, In
which he was wont to illustrate the acad-
emical responsibility on the road. And
ne had nothing else. No necessity had
ever before developed itself for anything
save shirt sleeves and wooden jacket.
An awful pause came over our delibera-
tons for Jake. Miss Smith whistled, and
finally suggested her water-proof--we all
were ready to fling ours at his feet-but
Jake couldn't go mufiied like an italian
brigand. He shook his head.
Night closed without any solution of
the difficulty, but we trusted that some
how the lads quick wit would find way
out of 1t.
The next morning, however, a new SEN
sation turned us from the contemplation
of Jake's disasters. The house had been
robbed. We were all terribly scared, and
Mr.. Squimps was In fever of declama-
ton and wrath. His coat, his best-be-
loved, blue-black coat, in which he was
wont to dignity trustee meetings, orna-
ment his pew Of Sunday, and pay visits
of state to his patrons-his coat had been
stolen HIS coat, man so devoted to the
interests of education that he scarcely
had time to 90 to the tailor's; to think
that an ungrateful, inappreciative, idle
world should have permitted him to be
robbed He raved, he stormed, he threat
degeneracy Of the times, and forgot our
Latin.
Vague forebodings of lurking assassins,
masked robbers, and frequent skirmishes
into the wardrobe and dormitories about
this time kept us all in nervous furry,
to the exclusion of all thought of Jake.
But late one twilight afternoon, as we sat
budding in the windows Of the long
school room waiting the supper-bell, we
saw him issue from the outhouse. Oh,
horror! Oh, apparition of terror! For
with its tails near touching the ground,
its long sleeves overlapping his hands,
Jake wore, without a doubt the missing
coat, boldly marching in his stolen finery
down toward the road In sight of us all.
In sight Of sharper eyes too, 1t seemed,
Tor not far from the house Mr.. Squimps
himself pounced upon him.
Poor, kind, light-hearted Jake! We
held our breath that day and the next,
for Jake had been marched of to prison,
and Mr.. Squimps' eloquence and moral
ity were In full flow. He said longer
grace than ever at dinner, and we were
all glad when, hungrily eying the scanty
board, we heard the visitors bell summon |
HIM to the parlor. / think we were In bet |
ter appetite than usual that day, and left |
little behind us for our Mentor as we filed |
upstairs toward the school-room. Pass
ing the parlor door there rushed out upon
us little figure In trailing silk dress
and bonnetful Of nodding French flow
ers. 1t was Amanda Liza.
"Oh, girls!" she cried, Historically,
bewildered with an apparent desire to EN-.
brace the whole troop. ''Poor Jake!''
Mr.. Squimps, tall and solemn, rose |
with dignity, and closed the parlor-door
upon their further conference. Weheard |
him make this consOling remark:
81 always knew he'd come to no
good"
1t seemed that Amanda had learned |
of Jake's mishap through some stray |
newspaper, where the well-known name |
of the virtuous and vengeful Squimps had
met her eye. She comprehended the situ-
alton, and came to the academy to plead
for her old friend.
We waited the news of Jake's fate
breathlessly, nodding and whispering |
among ourselves. For there would be a |
trial or something terrible, of course, we
hardly knew what. Mr.. Squimps was
away all the afternoon, the classes were
demoralized, and we stood idly gazing |
out of the window at four o'clock, when a
carriage came up the drive. To our
amazement Jake sat on the box, elate and
erect. He sprang down, and opened the
door with flourish, and out stepped Mr..
Squimps.
THE girl pleaded so hard that have
decided not to prosecute" said Mr..
Squimps; and If a splendid new coat
fresh from the tailor's and plump silken
purse Of unknown manufacture had any
thing to do with this decision we were not
informed of 1t.
"And I'm going to live with Miss Man.
dy Liza forever!" cried Jake, .yhen he
came among us, his face Lit with a glory
as If he were departing for heaven.
Would Amanda Liza dress him in a
blue coat and brass buttons, and make him
her coachman at good wages? All, what
a rise for poor Jake! Amanda Liza was
his saint, his angel, the hem of whose gar
ment he touched reverently. There was
no commonplace element about such love
as this, and Jake would be content to let
down her carriage steps and look after
her ponies all the days Of his life, we
thought. And that was the last we saw
of him at the Squimpses'.
But years after, when was travelling in
Australia with my husband, Mr.. Smith
and myself were invited to the ranch of
one Of the magistrates there, whose broad
estates covered miles of mountain and
meadow, and who owned almost literally
" the cattle upon thousand hills.' In
the lady Of the mansicn, delicate and
of surprise and delight my old school,
mate, Amanda Liza but did not know