The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-04-30

Devotion, and, 1t may be,
You'd do the same if you possessed
H C. Dodge, in Detroit Free Press.
THE NAN WITH A BLACK BEARD.
We were all assembled in the little
school-room. girls on one side, boys on
the other, and Miss Linda in the mid
die, beside mahogany desk, piled
with speHing-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,
as any one 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 thought of ours as
Miss Harrington. To this day l cannot
guess her age; she was certainly
young, but her features had a lovely
popularity of their own, which made
it impossible to say how young she
was. In her mirthful moments she
looked like 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 princess. The
stupid scholar of the school (there is
always a stupid scholar in the school,
and he is inevitably boy.) was STUN
bling through his spelling-lessons, and
falling fiat over the insurmountable
word physician" He had spelt it
IS fizzishion,'' /" fusition," and was at
present mute with despair, and, OBJ
ivious to the promptings of a SYM
pathizing little girl behind the teach
er's chair, was preparing to cover his
eyes with his coat sleeve and bemoan
himself, when the whole school was
startled by the sudden fiinging 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 my senses"
"What man, Lilly?" said Miss Lin
.da, compassionately. "How did he
brighten you, my dear?'
"He came close behind me and said,
& 4.
"and he put his hands to his forehead,
and then went away out of sight down
by the river. Oh! I'm so frightened,
so frightened. Miss Linda. you can't
Think
cit was only some poor crazy man,
my DEAR" said Miss Linda. "You are
safe now, at all events: wipe away your
tears, and tell me all about it."
Il was 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
in at the school and hear us sing this
afternoon; and while I 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 then back again, and then clasped
his hands and said Never, never.
nevern out loud, and frightened me so
that l 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 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 young and very