Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-01-20
BOARDING AROUND.
The Life of a Country SchOOlmaster.
Exchange


1t was a cold November afternoon
years ago, when 1 alighted at the dool
of Mr. Philip Clarkson's farmhouse, anG
the wagon and the friend who took me
there drove away. was young man
aged nineteen, who was driven by cir.
cumstances, and by want of cash, tC
teach district school. The directors
in the town of Sugar Loaf had hired me
at $25 month and my board, in lieu OF
which I agreed to continue teaching
their school for four months. That was
whao took me to Mr.. Clarkson's. He
was the director who had hired me. !
was to board ut his house first, and then
circumnavigate the district. L propose
now to narrate my experience while
mrking this grand tour:
Mr.. Clarkson owned farm, Mr. Clark,
sons wife owned her husband, and Mr..
and Mrs. Clarkson's two children owned
Mr.. and Mrs. Clarkson. Mr. and Mrs.
Clarkson's two children were. therefore,
the owners of the entire establishment.
The first thing was asked to do after
entering the house was to kiss the eld-
est, and obstreperous little termagant of
three. 1 survived the operation, and
thought had performed my whole duty
to Sally. Jr-she was called after her
mother. or her mother after her, l don't
know which-but discovered my mis-
take when Mrs. Clarkson gently insinu-
ated that her first born was handsome,
and asked me if 1 did not think so. OF
course, thought so, pro tem., for if l
had any doubts upon the subject, and l
rather think had. they were hidden in
the mysterious recesses of my bosom. l
wanted to be popular, and was fully pre-
pared to agree with everybody on every
thing. Sally, Jr., was placed in my arms
to nurse, while her mother was getting
supper and her father doing the chores.
found had my hands full. She may
have been very handsome, but certainly
she was equally troublesome,i if not more
so.
Her beauty did not compensate me for
her boldness by any means. l was do
ing my best to preserve the peace of the
family by dandling Sally, J., on my knee,
and making faces at her, when cry
from the cradle showed that the sleep
ing partner of the firm had wakened.
At the request of Mrs. Clarkson under
took to rock the cradle with my feet,
retaining the precious Sally, Jr., in my
arms all the time. My hands and feet
were both full. Sally, Jr, had thievish
propensitics wonderfully developed for
one of her age, and in a fit of abstrac-
tion she stole a cigar out of my vest
pocket, and, mistaking it for candy, be-
gan to suck it with all her might. While
my attention was engrossed by little
Tommy, who, by the way, was the dead
image of her husband, the beauty in nv
arms bit off the end of the cigar, and, as
it was never seen afterward, | have al
ways been under the impression that she
swallowed it. She was one of the Young
est chewers of tobacco l was ever ac-
quainted with. Whatever was the cause
of it. the young lady took sick forth
worth. Then the trouble began. She
grew pale with remarkable rapiditv. /
timidly suggested to Mrs. Clarkson that
Sally looked as if she were thirsty, and
recommended the application of water
internally. By this time sally looked
very bad indeed. L got alarmed. Tom
my began to yell, for l ceased rocking.
i thought Sally was fast approaching
the condition of corpse.
Believing that it would be more salts
factory to both parties, and to myself.
that she should die in her mothers arms,
l told Mrs. ClarksOn that if she took
Sally, would look after the ham she
was frying in the kitchen Sne must
have thought up to this time that was
joking about the water, and Sally being
thirsty, for Sally attracted no attention,
she was weak and sick, and awfully qui-
ct. Poor little thing. pitied her. Had
she died l would never have forgiven
myself. Anyway, Mrs. Clarkson re-
spODded to my second invitation and
came into the parlor. She took glance
at Sally. Her maternal instincts were
at once aroused. She snatched her from
my arms. In tone of alarm she asked
me what was the matter? | plead ig-
norance. She proceeded to make dag
nosis. One symptom which, in my con-
fusion, had escaped my eye, attracted
her notice. Sally clenched the remains
of the cigar in her chubby fingers. Mrs.
Clarkson Immediately informed me that
I was villain. 1 almost began to be-
heve it. she accused me of attempting
to poison her darling. She said was no /
nurse. fully believed that. inforn-
ed her that understood | was employ