The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-08-30


was in blossom than bloomed in Mines
cheek when she cried out:
GIVE got to fight it out somewhere,
aunty; let him mind his business and
I'll mind mine p
My heart fairly warmed to the girl as
she sat opposite to me at the table,
crunching slice after slice of toast be-
tween her white teeth, and devouring the
dainties one by one. The little widow
had been so fnicky, and had such
poor appetite myself, that things came
and went upon the table, and were
warmed up and fused over till body
got tired of seeing them. Then she
was my own flesh and blood, and had
the Schoonmaker nose, little high with
Mime, and freckled over the bridge
bit, but she was bonny, blithe, fresh
looking creature, SO different from the
wretched little woman that had just gone
away.
I couldn't bear the thought of her
spirits and health being broken by that
dreadful Mr.. Steele.
"Ill tell you, Mime" said, as she
dried the dishes for me, "what we'll
do. You shall stay at home with me
and help about the shop there's bon
nets now and then to trim, and lots of
little knick- knacks in worsted-work to be
made"
"Now, aunty," said Mime, ga buff
falo would be less clumsy at trim
ming bonnet than [ would, and as
for worsted- work"
81 suppose So" I said, for I could see
she was determined to teach.
The next morning she went to school,
and for month or SO everything went
right, and I didn't hear word of COM
plant FROM her. She made fun enough
of the schoolmaster, and said he didn't
know how to manage the boys, and
made himself more trouble than was
necessary that a coaxing word of hers
went farther than a dozen slashes OF
that rod of his; but everyone had their
own way, and it was none of her bust
ness. She was getting along splendidly,
and the smaller children were quite de
lighted with way she had of picturing
out things on the blackboard. Mime
was quite ready with her pencil, and had
made us laugh, Sam Riley and me,
many time, by scrawling off funny con-
ceits on paper. Sam Riley began to
drop in at night, and I noticed he was
quite taken with Mime. Sam was well
to do, and, outside Of his line OF stages,
owned fine house down on the main
road. Sam didn't mind being hit off
himself once in a while-him and his
horses and passengers and all he used
to sit back on his chair and laugh till the
tears rolled down his cheeks, and look
over at me, winking and blinking, and
whispering, under his breath, what
wonderful woman she was.
"She's as fresh and handsome as a
rose," he would say when Mime was out
Of the room; Sand what health she's got,
and what spirits p
I could see how things were going.
Dear dear used to sit and picture it
all out to myself, and think how nice it
would be to have Mime settled near me
for life. So when she came home one
afternoon from school, with a bright
spot burning on either cheek, an angry
flame in her eyes, and said to me that
war had begun between her and Mr..
Steele, I didn't so much mind, for I
thought the sooner she got discouraged
the better. Sam was we'll on to 80,
and, though Mines skin made her look
younger than she was, there wasn't so
much difference as you'd think between
their ages
"He's forbidden my illustrations on
the blackboard, aunty," said Mime; and
though I didn't know one bit of board
from another, [ could see by the way
she felt about it that it was a great spite
to Mime. "He calls them pernicious
and exciting to the imagination, and in
furious to more practical requirements,
said Jemima. And couldn't quite get
the hang of his objections, for every
word of the schoolmaster' was as long
as the moral law, but I could tell it was
some imposition of his. "He's mar
row-minded idiot, and I shall tell him
so if he persists in this notion said
Mime
"If he persists, I said, "you'd bet
ter give itup. He's so set in his way,
there's no use crossing him"
Il won't let him cross me- said
Mime, and she didn't. She went on
with her pictures on the blackboard for
full week or more, till one night there
was rap at the sitting. room door, and
it gave me quite turn to see the long,
bony figure Of the schoolmaster standing
on the threshold.
Mime started up, hot color leaping
into her face, and stood there confront
ing him like young Jezebel.
The man looked pale enough himself,
sinking into the chair I set for him as if
he was quite worn and spent like, and
he seemed beat out in some way; for,
though he fixed his eyes savagely on
Mime, there was something in EN- that
looked tired and hunted.
81 have come here to demonstrate
with your niece, madam, +" he said to me,
though I've found it of very little use
and profit heretofore; but however capa-
BILE and efficient she may be, and how
ever judicious it may seem to retain her
services, her spirit Of INSTRUMENTATION is
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