The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-08-06

circulating his 'sartieles" among Us, we
took him by common consent as Won
derfully learned man, and for a long time
thereafter we Welded him unfaltering 10y
atty. As for me. / never have Withdrawn
my allegiance. look back even now and
admire him. / sigh a little, thinking OF
the days when he flourished.
must here most solemnly avow my be-
lief, nay, my faith, In progress; but I will
not, for the mere sake of pleasing the lit
erary si0GLLotos OF TODAY, who imagine
themselves divers, fall in and betray my
dear old BlOdgett. Whenever one of these
silk-winged swallows blurts progress at
me, L cannot help thinking of Heine and
Jean Paul, and - Blodgett. Somehow
genius and poverty are great crOnies.
Blodgett was a genius. and he gathered
vast knowledge from places where Heine
and Jean Paul would have died of intel
lectual starvation. Blodgett was genius
and consequently poor. He was virtuous
and, of course, happy; and he might never
have swerved from the path of rectitude,
even TO the extent of hairs breadth, if it
had not been for the coming of a not
over-scrupulous rival into the neighbor-
ing village. But must not hasten. You
must be patient. We old fogies have
nothing of the lightning calculator In us.
We take our time.
1t has been agreed upon that biography
must include somewhat of physical por-
traiture; "What sort of looking man
was Blodgett?" | will tell you, as nearly
as | can; but, bear in mind, it is long
time since / saw Kim, and, in the mean
while, the world has been washed and
cOmbed till one can scarcely be sure he
recollects how it used to look. The seedy
dandy who teaches the common school OF
to-day is, no doubt, all right as things go !;
but it does seem to me sometimes that
things go like lightning, and as for finding
some one of that stripe to compare with
BlOdgett-pshawl
Our pedagOgue, when he first came
among us, was, as near as | may Judge,
about forty and a bachelor; tall, raw
boned, lean-faced and muscular, a man of
many words and big ones, but not very
prone TO seek audience of the world. To
me, a boy of twelve, he appeared some
what awful, especially when plying the
beech rod for the benefit of future man !;
and do still think that something harder
than mere sternness slept or woke in and
about the lines of his strong, flat Jaws :;
that something sharper than acid shrewd-
ness CLEANED from his pale grey eyes. and
than that of mere brute obstinacy fingered
about his firm mouth and closely shaven
chin.
Blodgett had a mighty will and mighty
body, which, added TO the deep Difference
with which he was approached by every
body, made him not only little arrogant
and despotic, though doubtless he was
less so than most men would have been
under like circumstances. His years sat
lightly on him. His step was youthful,
though slouching; his raven hair was
bright and wavy; his skin had the tinge
of vigorous health. and, in truth, he was
not far from handsome. His voice was
nasal, but nevertheless pleasant.
cannot hope to give you more than a
faint idea of the absolute power Blodgett
welded over the men, women and chill
dren of the school vicinage; suffice it TO say
that his view was sine qua non to every
neighbOrhOOd opinion, mis- words the basis
of fneighbOrhood action in all public mat
tiers. If Blodgett pronounced the parsons
last sermon failure, at once the entire
church agreed in cOndemning it, not mere
ly as failure, but as consummate blum
der. If Blodgett hinted that a certain
impressed him unfavorably.
the nincompOop was at once kicked out of
society. In fact, in the pithy phrase
Ology of these college days, it was
= dangerous TO be safe - about where he
lived.
Thus, for long time and with an iron
hand, the pedagogue ruled his little world,
with no one to dream of disputing his
right or his capacity. till at length Fate
let fall little bit of romance that for a
while tinged with rose the whole of his
hai,an 10 N .nf IN NO hI1t ~ ic or
in existence now.
1t was a great event in our neighbor-
hood when Miss Grace Holland, yellow
haired, blue-eyed, very handsome and we'll
young lady from Louisville. KY,
came to spend the summer with ParsOn
Holland, our preacher and the young
lady's uncle. All the young men fell in
love with Miss Holland right away, but it
was of no use to them. BlOdgett, in the
langu age of you fast youngsters. Z" SHE'D
his castor into the ring" and what was
there left for the boys but to stand by and
see the glory of BlOdgett during the sea
son of his wOOing? 1t would have done
your eyes good to see the pedagogue
- slick himself up" each Saturday eve
ming, preparatory to visiting the parsons.
He went into the details of the toilette
with an enthusiasm worthy of boy whose
voice is just done changing. Ordinarily
Blodgett was OstentatiOuslY piOus; but
now his nature began to slip its clOse-set
bark and disclose an inner rind of real
which made him quite pleas
ant company for Miss Holland, who was a
sensible girl and old enough to take de-
light in the many peculiarities of the peda-
gogue.
On Blodgett's side it was love-just the
blindest kind of love at first sight.
As TO Miss Holland cannot say. One can
never say as to a woman. Guessing at
wOman's feelings in matters of love is a
little like wondering which makes the mu-
sic. a boys mouth or the Jews'-harp.
Great events do not come singly. A
few days after the advent of Miss Holland,
came witty young fellow with hand
press to our village, and started a news
paper. BlOdgett seemed from the first
not 10 fully relish the innovation
but real paper right in our midst was no
small matter for our neighborhoOd. Ev-
erybody subscribed. So did Blodgett.
Formerly newspaper man was con-
sidered nearly as intelligent and learned as
A pedagogue; but everybody, however ig-
nOrant himself, could not fail to see that
one represented conservatism. the other
progress; and formerly most people were
ultra-conservatives. This of course gave
the pedagOgue somewhat of an advantage.
OF course Blodgett and the editor soon
became acquainted. The latter, shrewd,
iapper Yankee, measured the pedagogue
At glance, seeing at once that big bulk
Of strong sense and a will like mon were
in the stalwart Hoosier's brain.
The calculating editor became forthwith
aware that one of two things must hap
pen: BlOdgett must be vanquished or his
influence secured. He must be prevailed
upon to endorse the Star (the new papers
namel. or the Star must attack and de-
stroy him at once.
Meantime the pedagogue grimly waited
for an opportunity 10 demolish the editor.
He would sacrifice him between his
as he would flea-the little,
sleek stuek-up, .big-headed, pop-eyed,
Roman-nosed dandy. .ft
Still, the little lady from Louisville took
up so much of his time, that any well-laid
plan of attack was not to be thought of by
Blodgett. But if nations wish to fight, it
is easy to find pretext for declaration of
war. So with individuals. So with
Blodgett and the editor. They soon came
TO open and uncompromising hostility.
SUCH AN uproar as it did make in the
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