Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-05-08
A Professor Substitute.

while his keen but kindly eyes
were fixed upon a sweet faced
girl standing modestly before
him.
"You are such a child" he said
presently.
Il am fifteen, Herr Professor .
"A great age! And these arc
all big boys, you see
"But ] do not have to do more
than teach them, and / can do
that because" and here her
low, sweet voice broke, and the
sensitive lip quivered piteously
-"my father was training me
for teacher"
aII'm, yes!''
'If you will only let me try,
Herr Professor, until my father
is stronger. The doctor says a
few weeks Of entire rest is all he
needs, but if his salary is stop
ped how are we to live?"
Professor Bonds brow knit
again. 1t was a dilemma out
of which he saw no way. Pro
fessor Sehorn was his German
teacher, and three distinct class
es of pupils were expecting to
recite to him that very day. 1t
was impossible to find another
competent teacher for some days,
and Professor Sehorn had a
stroke of paralysis. In this G
mergency the professors only
child, Doretta, had offered her
services.
p Professor Bond was puzzled
about the expediency of substi-
tuting for a gruff, gray-headed
German of sixty or thereabouts,
slender girl of fifteen, with a
voice like a flute and smile like a
baby. Yet there was resolution
too in the thin blue eyes and on
the pretty lips, while the low,
broad brow promised intellect.
"Well," he said after a long
pause, "you may try. / am
within call if you need me-"
And Doretta, with a long
quivering sigh, followed him to
class room where about twen-
/ ty boys awaited the arrival of
a German professor. After Pro-
fessor Bond left her, she said,
with a gentle pathos:
"My poor father lies helpless
at home, and we shall starve if
l cannot do his work here. You
know him and love him, and /
am sure you will not make it
hard for me"
All the boy chivahy awaken
ed at this, and the class as a
whole was exemplary. There
were imperfect lessons, but little
inattention, and the new teacher
excused nothing, let no mistake
pass undiscovered. Her own
knowledge of English was better
than her fathers, and, greatly TO
his amazement, Professor Bond
found the classes progressing fa-
vorably.
The second term Of the year
made some changes, and one
morning Doretta, lifting her soft
blue eyes to her class, found a
new boy facing her. He had
large, dark eyes, a handsome
face, a tall, strong figure, and
rather awed her because he was
older than any of her class. She
found his name upon her book
Sidney Rynear, and her pref
ty face clouded as she read it,
for there were vague but un-
pleasant memories associated
with the name Of Rynear in her
mind.
But Sidney Rynear was the
very pink of courtesy. just
from New York, his clothing
was in the latest style, and at
nineteen foppishness is not 50
offensive, as at twenty-nine. On
Ily a boy and a girl liking was
the result Of the meeting.
The romance of a first love
lasted ali winter, and, as spring
opened, Professor Sehorn gained
his strength until he could hob
bic about on crutches, and talk
of resuming his interrupted du-
ties. 1t was in April that little
Doretta stayed at home to cook
the soup, and her father went
once more to the seminary t