The Red Cloud chief., 1880-05-27
TIE NAN WITH A BLACK BEARD,

You'd do the same If you possessed
Another such "A baby.
IL Z. Dodge, Ia Detroit Free Preas.
-
TIE NAN WITH A BLACK BEARD.
WE were all assembled in the little
school-room. girls Oh one side, boys on
the other, and Miss Linda i'm the mid
die, beside a mahogany desk, piled
with spelIing-books, and graced by a
polished ruler, which never, within the
memory of the oldest scholar, had
been used for any more unpleasant
purpose than to rule copies with, for
Miss Linda's sway was a gentle one,
"a any n who looked at her fair face
might well have imagined. Even our
habit OF calling her Miss Linda was
proof OF this; any other teacher would
have been addressed by her surname,
but We never even MOHgM of ours as
Miss Harrington. To this day | annot
guess her age; she was certainly
young, but her features had a lovely
popularity of their own, which made
II impossible TO say how young she
was. In her mirthful moments she
looked like a merry child, in her sad
der ones she was quite a woman; but
in any mood she was as beautiful as
perfect features, ivory skin, a wealth
of golden hair and great, long-fringed
black eyes could make her. She was
IN her merry mood this morning, and
there were dimples in her ROSY cheeks,
and those black eyes out-rivaled the
brightest diamonds that ever glistened
amid the tresseS of a princess. The
stupid scholar of the school (there is
always a stupid scholar in the school,
and he Is inevitably a boy,) vas SUM
bling through his spelling-lessons, and
falling fiat Owe the insurmountable
word physician" He had spelt it
fiZZishion,'' ''fusition," and was at
present mute with despair, and, OBJ
livious to the promptings of a SYM
pathizing little girl behind the teach
crs chair, was preparing TO cover his
eyes with his coat sleeve and bemoan
himself, when the whole school was
startled by the sudden flinging open of
the door, and the entrance of little
Lilly Darwin. the smallest of the small
children under Miss Linda's care, in a
state of violent agitation.
"Oh, the man., the man. sobbed
Lilly. 1.-The great tall man with the
black beard! He's frightened me out
of nv senses"
What man, LiIly?" said Miss Lin
da. compassienately. "How did he
brighten YOU, my dear?"
He came close behind me and said,
Never, neverI'" answered the child;
land he put his hands t. his forehead,
and then went away out of sight down
by TIE river. OH I'm SO frightened,
SO frightened. Miss Linda, you can't
think"
lit was only some poor crazy man.
nv DEAR said Miss Linda. You are
safe now, at all events: wipe away your
tears, and tell me all about it."
"Iwas coming along the green lane
toward school, Miss Linda, hurrying
very fast for fear / would be late, when
/ met our new minister, who stopped
and shook hands with me, and asked
how YOU were; and said he would look
i'm at the school and hear us sing this
afternoon; and while l was answering
him this tall man with the black beard
passed us twice, and then stopped be-
side the water. And when the minister
turned away he looked after him, and
then walked very quickly toward school,
and hen back again, and then clasped
his hands and said Never, never,
neyer.' out loud, and frightened me so
that | cried, and ran here as fast as l
could"
This horrible narration affected all
the smaller children as a ghost story
would have done; and Miss Linda, after
looking around at these frightened
faces. laughed merrily, and, expressing
her decided conviction that the gentle
man with the black beard had escaped
from the lunatic asylum, called the
school to order, and proceeded in the
usual routine of duties, as though moth
ing particular had occurred.
Early in the afternoon "our minister"
did call. He had a habit of visiting the
school, and it appeared to me that the
teacher was much more interesting than
- her scholars. At all events, it was GER
tain that he looked at her much oftener
than he did at us, and was very particu-
lar about shaking hands when he took
his leave. He was a young and very
handsome man. and umo said that he
was exceedingly in love with our Miss
Linda. He fingered in the little school
house a long while on that bright sum-
mer afternoon; but he went at last, and
then the children were dismissed, and
the little building closed for the night.
NV wcv was the same as Miss Linda's.
and | trotted along beside her. holding
tightly to her simple muslin dress, and
chatting all the way. We came before
long to the pretty cottage where our
schoolmistress boarded. The woman
oi the house-at laxative New Highlander
sat with her knitting upon the porch.
She greeted Miss Linda with a smile,
and began to empty her budget of
small talk and news forthwith.
did your ears burn to-day?' she
said. '.They ought to, for you've been
talked about enough. There was a
n here-a foreign-looking man
with a long black beard; and he asked
me about the place and the people in it,
and appeared to be much interested
about the school, and asked the name
of the teacher and what sort of a per-
son she was. / told him as near as /
could: and, saws l, 1 shouldn't wonder
If she left off being schoolmistress and
went to live al the parsonage before
long, for our minister is paving very
particular attention to her, says /, and
/ shouldn't wonder if she liked him,
too. She's good enough for a minister's
lady, anyhow, says l."
.:Oh, Mrs. Jones! how could you say
such things to a stranger, or to any
y ?" exclaimed Miss Linda, locking
really distressed. .sWhat must the
gentleman have thought?"
"Oh! you know l must talk when
once get started" said Mrs. Jones,
land I don't suppose he thought any
thing about it. He started pretty soon
after that, and I thought he was going
to visit the school, for he went straight
toward it,"
The remembrance of the man who
had frightened little Lilly rushed across
my mind, and l turned my steps home
ward. after bidding goodbye to Miss