The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-10-19

thatI cannot baarfo punish you-not
the foot of your class instead.
| ssI'd rather take the WINNING" The
honest, upturned face was very sober,
but betrayed not the least sign of fear,
nor was there the slightest suspicion of
tremble in the clear, childish voice.
Bless your brave little heart, -
thought /. .sOf course .you .wouldi I
might have known it, and again I
walked the aisles, up and down, think
ing. thinking.
..You viii have to do it," repeated
| the voice. There is no other way"
81 cannot-oh, can't" I groaned,
half aloud.
ssThe good of the school requires it.
You must sacrifice your own feeling
and his
Sacrifice his feelingl Loyal little
soul = good as gold. and true as
steel.n
mo matter, you must do it,
81 won'tr'
I walked quickly to the desk, and
struck the bell. The children looked
| wonderingly. sListen to me, boys"
said /. s.You all know that Frank
Dunbar is one of our best scholars"
s.Yes. 'm-yes, mr. came from all
| parts of the room, but two or three Of
the larger boys sat silent and unsympa-
| thetic.
"You know how ambitious he is in
school, and what little gentleman, al
ways
Eyes, m. That's so. We KNOW
Only two unsympathetic faces now; but
one of them, that of a sulky boy in the
corner, looked as if it's owner were
| mentally saying: Cant think what
| you're driving at, but I'll never give in
never"
"You all know how brave he was
when Joe Willis dropped his new knife
between the boards of that unfinished
building on Corliss street. How he did
what no other boy in school would do
let himself down into the cellar, and
CROPPED about in the dark until he found
it for him."
1--WE know that-yes, m, Hurrah
Stop minute One thing more''
Sulky boys companion was shouting
with the rest, and sulky boys own face
had relaxed.
''You all know said I, show he
took care of Willie Randall when Willie
hurt himself upon the ice. How he
drew him home upon his sled, going
very slowly and carefully that poor
Willie might not be jolted. and max
ing himself late to school in conse-
quence."
Eyes. m Yes, ma'am Hoo-ray
smiling now, and knew that.my cause
was won.
Very well,' said I. Now let us
talk about to-day. He has disobeyed
me, and-of course ought to punish
him.
mo, IA, you ouehtn't. Don't pun
ish him! We don't want him whippedr'
''But have given my word. It will
be treating you all unfairly if | break
| it. He has been such a faithful boy
that should like very much to forgive
him, but cannot do it unless you are
all willing"
Were willing. Well give you leave.
Well forgive him. WE'LL
stop! Iwanty you to think of it care
| fully for a minute. l an going TO
leave the matter altogether with you.
shall do just as you say. If, Mt the
end of one minute by the clock, you
are sure you forgive him, raise your
| hands"
My dear, you should have seen themi
II ever bncfc was expression III HuillaH
hands, L saw it in theirs that day. Such
a shaking and swapping of fingers, and
an eager waving of small palms
breaking out at last into hearty, sim
ultaneous clapping, and sulky boy the
most of all!
'-Disorderly," do you sayP Well, per-
| haps it was. We were too much in
earnest to think of that. / looked at
Frank. His blue eyes were swimming
in tears, which he would not let fail.
As for me. L turned to the blackboard,
and put down some examples in long
division. If ! had made all the divis-
ors larger than the dividends, OF writ
ten the numerals upside down, it would
not have been strange to me, under the
circumstances.
And the moral of this-cohcluded
Miss Jenkins (she had been reading
Alice in Wonderland)n-i that a
| teacher is human, and human being
doesn't always know just what to do.