The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-06-28

tees, knowing that he had conducted
male department of n FrankfOr
school with eminent success, engaged
him at large salary. The Harlans
vile scholars included the youth o.
both sexes, and were, for the mos
part, orderly and industrious. There
was, however, one girl in the schOO
who was probably the most mischiev'
and reckless of her sex. There is nC
doubt that Miss Alice, as she was gen
orally called, was very pretty girl
| aud no one claimed that she was gull
| ty of any serious crimes. Still, she
was never out of mischief, and would
plan and execute enterprises from
which the average boy would shrink
in terror. When it is added that she
was fifteen years old, and unusually
large for her age, it will be perceived
| the life of a school-teacher unspeaka>
bly, wretched.
When Miss Alice first saw the new
teacher she at once perceived that he
was admirably adapted to be teased
His manifest bashfulness and the innO-
cent, unsophisticated expression of his
kindly, but far from handsome, face
stimulated her mischievOus prOpensi-
ties to the utmost. She began her
persecution without delay, and carried
it on with immense success. Time
and space would fail were it attempt
ed to catalogue the various devices by
which she plagued the patient teacher.
1t was not long, however, before he
discovered that the demure Miss Alice
was at the bottom of all the mischief
in school, though she was too astute
to permit herself to be detected in any
overt act. One of her favorite meth
DDS of harrassing the good teacher was
to'pretend to an ardent admiration for
him. She would constantly go to his
desk on the preteXt of asking his help
in her lessons, and while he was la
bOriOusly explaining how this sum
should be done, or how that verb
should be parsed, she would stand by
his side gazing at him with an air of
hopeless and passionate attachment
which filled the scholars with the
widest delight. Then, too, she would
constantly manage to touch, with APP
parent Inconsistencies, the teachers
hand or shoulder, or would lean over
him so that her breath would fan his
sparse and delicate hair. The uneaSi-
ness betrayed by the innocent man in
these circumstances was excessively
ludicrOus, and delighted the naughty
girl and her fellOw-pupils unspeaka-
bly,.
The day came, however, when Miss
Alice, grown careless by long impuni-
ty, was detected in the act of firing at
another girl with bean-shoOter.
This was a crime for which the mex
Orable penalty was ''rulering." The
teacher would have given much to
avoid the necessity of "Tulering" a
girl, but if he suffered Miss Alice's Of
tense to pass without punishment he
knew that he would be accused of un-
fairness, and that the discipline of the
school would he destroyed. With a
heavy heart he called her up for pun>
ishment, and ordered her to hold out
her hand. She held it out smilingly
and unfiinchingly, and when the pun
ishment was ended she deliberately
threw her arms around the teachers
neck and kissed him. al always re-
turn kiss for blow" she explained,
as soon as the teacher recovered breath
and consciousness; "fOr mother always
taught me So" Having said this, she
went calmly back to her seat, and the
teacher, wishing that the earth would
open and hide him, tried to calm his
beating heart by studying history from
a spelling book held upside down.
The cup of his misery was by no
means full. There was a rule in school
that whoever climbed the fence into
the next yard and stole apples from
Deacon Watkins apple-tTee should he
logged. The te9eher, in order to
check the growth of this t6rfiblc vice,
had distinctly announced that this
rule would be inexorably enforced, no
matter who might be the culprit or
what defense might he offered. OF
course, it was never for a moment
imagined that any girl could climb a
fence and an apple tree, and hence the
teacher was Mortified to discover, as
he approached the sch9ql-raam one
morning, Miss Alice perched on
limb of the apple-tree and tossing APP
Piles to the rest of the scholars. When
he reflected that he was pledged to in
fiict upon her the severest punishment
known to the school code, his knees
smote together and he felt that death
would be sweet and welcome.
1t was the custom to fog culprits at
the morning recess, and when the
TEACHER notified Miss Alice that she
should remain in the sohOol-room dur
ing recess, the other scholars chuckled
with glee, and the girl herself was
seen to blush. When recess came,
and the guilty girl was left alone with
the teacher, the excitement of the
play ground was immense, and the
large boys bet immense quantities of
tops and slate-pencils in favor of or
against the probability that Miss Alice
would be-in fact, punished. One en-
terprlsing boy climbed the lightning
rod and looked in at the window. 1t
is on his evidence that the remainder
of the story rests.
'He never even offered to lick her."
testified the disappointed boy. "He
Just called her up and said, says he,
IAlice, I'd a darned sight sooner mar
ry you than lick YOU Then says Al>
Ice: TT is about the same thing, any
how, so if you say marry, I'm with
you.' Then the old man, he kissed
her, and that's how it ended. There
amt no fairness in no teacher. He
wouldn't have let boy off that way,
you bet"
Doubtless the precise language al
the teacher and Of Miss Alice We're
not correctly reported, but the main
features of the boys evidence were un-
dOubtedly true. The teacher was
married last week, and has since re-
peatedly said that mathematics are all
very well, but that man needs to cul-
tivate his emotional nature and to de-
velop his domestic affections. His rO-
nance certainly came to him late, and
in an unexpected way, but those who
have seen his young wife think that
he is man to he enVied.