Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-10-18

Times InlS WINTER Ia q Qled Wnen sne
did, and Il"
forgotten for the moment, that he was
in the school-room. Suddenly rec0l-
lecting himself he broke off in the midst
of his sentence, crimsoned deeper than
ever, and brushing tear from eacli eye
E sSShssd siSs; q e ssSs 4sfy NJ ssss as
though he doubted the evidence of his
senses. Was it fact that this truthful
faced, bfue-eyed, rosy-cheeked girl, who
was considered pattern scholar by the
EWhpleaschopb had looked upon him COM
passionately and spoken kind word for
him?
Mr.. Willet was in a dilemma. His
dignity ia9d autharitys and his reputa-
tion for being just man must be main
tanned. In all his experience as SCHOOL
teacher he had never been So put to his
wits end before. He hesitated longer
than qsual sbefppe SspeekinG DcB Ben mo-
ticed his embarrassment, and was dis
posed 70 seize, What seemed to him,
favorable opportunity 10 speak for
himself. He rose suddenly, and went.
with rapid strides, mp Cte1 Mr.. Willet.
Some ION Sisoa Of the older boys logged each other
ing ID for & fegdlsf fight. Shouldn't
wonder il he should beat" And all of
the little scholars looked frightened, and
some of them began to cry. But the
scholars were all mistaken that time.
Ben looked down upon the floor and
| said, rather agitated-'sMr. Willet, you
told me, a few minutes ago, that seem
ed disposed to act In ndefianceof your au-
thority. I aint disposed to do no such
thing. And / didn't mean to say anOth-
er word till you asked me to; but when
Mary Lee spoke good word for me,
kSue fSfe tadushs TSobsGSi ssi Il ilse. e.
cuse me for that" He glanced at Mary
! and she looked at him approvingly.
That gave. him fresh courage. He felt
that he was q human Being, and that the
rest OF fhe scholars were no more than
that. zHe was sorry that he had not
controlled himself better, that noon bus
he felt conscious, as general thing, Of
having done about as well as he could,
under adverse circumstances; and he
| thought If they knew his history they
would look upon him in very different
light. The very thought cheered him,
And, it seemed to him that the chains
and letters that had held his spirit so
long in thralldom, had fallen off, and
that all the manliness there was in him
was trying to assert itself, and that he
must speak and give full vent to his
feelings, or die.go He looked at Mary
again, and he was sure of one persons
sympathy and pity, at least. He would
tell his story, no matter what Mr.. Willet
said or did after it.
tas He, said;TTsssMr. gWillet, Libby Arnold
has told her STORY. Shall tell mine
now?"
"It is my practice, Mr.. Willet re-
piled, with an extra touch of pedagogic
dignity, Ito hear both sides of case be-
fore deciding as: toatbe merits or demer-
its of my pupils, when there has been
trouble between them. am ready to
hear what you have to say; but be care
full, sir, that all you tell is the TRUTH
BHneaa w;s rsselysa that he X9ula Rs sS
But Mr.. Willet's caution, in regard to
telling the truth, brought all the hot
blood back to his face. He Strengthened
up and looked his teacher squarely in
the face, and the words came out rapid
ly and earnestly; but there was no
cringing in his tones as he said: ST
know, Mr.. Willett, as well as you know
lif, or an oonR else eIknows it, that & am a
tsssrsss gnsRs,,s saf gy but al nS 9ia +
wherever they're found, whether it's in
Mr.. Arnold's family or somewhere else.
But, maybe, I'm too hard in speakin' so,
cause don't suppose that Libby Ar
mold, nor any of the rest of the scholars
know justS how / am situated. When
Mr.. Dupbars smoyed from the lower dis
trict up S6DthlSzliStfict shaS fzll, felt as
though I'd about as lives go without
any more schoolin,' as to come here
1mopg strangers: And wouldn't have
Ebme H. day withA these dfftt Jpatcaietl
clothes on, to be the laughin' stock OF
the whole school, If old Dunbar would
| N Oi1 n tho firnn ho rarnr1aicod l1o
s'lectmeu I sheuldshaye tego to school
to studyin' to home. But / knew he
wouldn't, if he greed to. I knew /
should be called OFF for somethin' OF
mother all day. long 1 thought, too,
that my mother, if she could speak to
me, would tell me that had better go to
school and do the best could. So de-
HHninelsf waaleaeones i'll did iae! iae!
J ashamed not to know no more; and did
4 look, as old Nat Fisher Fisher. always
tells me, like the DEVILS rag baby.
, lookin' so, and I thought like enough
the schoolmaster would understand that
!, 'twan't my fault. But the first morning
, come here and seen you look so clean
and partiklar like. and youl hands jist
faS sWhite. rs asklady's, and heerd yeu
charge the scholars to alters have clean
hands, so as to not soil their books.
, noticed you looked at my hands as
thoaghiit made you siokl to see 'em.4 AL
the scholars looked right at me when
you did, AMI my face burned, they star.
, ed at me so; and heard Libby Arnold
whisper. to j ulia EHink,s rHDo you SEE
how red his face is? should think he'd
be ashamed! It's too bad to have such a
boy cOmcto our schOOl!' I knew how
things would go with me this winter.
held my book afore my face and tried to
, study, but [ couldn't. 1 thought thai
. this was a mighty hard world for some
folks to live q and that itsrasa leede
Harder for me than anyone else. NY
; hands looked dirty, to be sure, but 1 had
done the best that I could to git 'em
; clean. II don't believe there is a scholar
fflat could keep their hands 1ooxin, any
! tclearier than mime, If they had to handle
/ so manv things that would stain 'em up
! as haye to; and had to do all the barr
chores all winter, without speck o
!: mitten on. alters have to wash me il
I ashOli9w stotse cut by the wells Il IT'S d.
cold as Greenland. And 1 amt allowed
/ to have drop of warm water, nor Bit
| of soap neither. Old Dunbar's wife
says it won't do for paupers to be tot
i particular. She wonder how they should
'cumulate so much property, If they
spent Gas mnchN Nnme as 1 e,in washin
Il 'em. I reckon, too. any scholar there i
8 here would like to set down to the
9 stove moons ana Awarnn< their feet, if they
{ hadn't had no stockin's on all winter,
8 isnor n0 other chance 10 comef near. a fire
|, They telfinae that saeh a. great clown as
1 1, ought to Keep put Of tie way and lie
never hindered the rest from comin.'
], alters go round the backside OF the stow
j as far out of the way as can git"
oil 81 don't believe all his stuff, dom