The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-06-05
THE SCH0OL.MISTRESS ON BAR
BERRY ISLAND.

"THE SchOOl-miStreSs? | want to
know if you amt heerd? Well now,
thatdoe beat all - said Deacon Manley,
in answer to our question, with the air
of one who wondered in what PARKWAY
nook of the world we could live that
such great events could transpire with
out our knowledge.
L" Now this that I'm goin' to tell
you, about the school mistress and her
beau, sounds like the biggest kind of a
yarn, and if you read it in one of your
story books you'd be very apt to say
that the teller had ought to a made up
something that sounded likelier. But
it's jest as true as if the minist Ter
preached it, every word ont.
"You see It was one day last Septem-
Der, along towards the middle o. the
month, when the summer folks was
beginnin' to thin out. was layin'
round the dock over to Porkerpine, in
my small boat, The Sarsy Fanny you
know, waitin' for the Portland
steamer. l was expectin' some stuff
aboard of her that l was goin' to fetch
home in The Sarsy Fanny She
didn't fetch many passengers to Pork
erpine, bein' the season was about over,
but got my eye sot on one young
teller that jumped off before
she got alongside the wharf.
He acted as if he felt pretty
much to home, and didn't care whether
school kept or not. He was dressed up
in store close, but knowed, by the cut
of his iib, that he was sailor. Icouldn't
exactly make out whether he belonged
to these parts or not, but when | see him
square in the face it kinder seemed as eff
he favored somebody that knowed.
heerd him 'askin' for somebody to set
him over to Burberry Island, and l took
him aboard the Fanny. He lent hand,
very lively, while was loadin' the mo-
lasses and lie that had come on the
steamer, but kinder run of an idee that
ha WANT no great hand for talkin'. He
took hold and handled the boat as eff he
was used to it, and bimeby / says: Il
take it you've follered the sea some, ,
says l.
"Some,' says he with kind of a
laugh. 'And teller amt born on Bar
berry Island for nothin'.'
''I was struck all of heap at that;
for teller to tell me, to my face, that
he was born on Burberry Island when |
didn't know him! But after I'd thought
spell concluded that he might ben
born on vessel that put in for night
or so, or in some sech ereglar way. |
gin him good sharp look, and 1 thought
I'd seen him before; and then agin
thought hadn't.
"He looked me suddenly in theface
for considerable spell, and then says
he:
"'Is it possible that you don't know
me, Deacon?'
"Well, didn't, but the more l look
at him the more felt as if l should re-
member him when he told me who he
was, and think what an old fool I'd ben
for forgettin'.
I'm Bart Ramsdell,' says he.
"My hair riz right up, and my flesh
kinder creep. I'd seen folks come home
before, arter stun was set for 'em in
the graveyard and their folks had all
wore mournin', nothin' never made
me feel just like this. You see he was
so altered. 1t kinder made me feel as
eff he'd ben dead and riz up agin. Bart's
looks was there-and then aoin they
wa MT. Lookin' on him over l could
not make out no real difference more'n
ten years would be apt to make. Bart
was only twenty when he went away,
and now he looked middlin' old for
thirty. allus thought consid' liable
o. Bart when he was youngster, and it
did beat me that l hadn't hnowed him.
He was full of mischief, but he allus
owned up to his capers, and when he
gin you his word you could trust him.
He allus had mischievous twinkle in
his eye, but l couldn't see no signs o.
that now, and there wa MT no material
ness in the way he looked at me out of
his eyes.
"FYou be Bart-and then agin you
amt says 1.
Sand upon that he threw back his
head and laughed, real kind of material,
and like a boy; and my heart kinder
begun to go out to him. And when l
thought of his father and mother, the
old Cap'n and Mis- Aminidab, and
Garafely, was good mind to git down
on my knees right there and thank the