St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-03-10
PELTED HOME FROM SCHOOL.

ID p. = r. . =HL -
pELTED HOME FROM SCHOOL.
..Boys! boys! Come on! Here some !
funn'
"What's a-going? What is it?''
The shouts were excited and long |
drawn, and SO was the answer:
s'The girls are pelting Bill Henderson
cause he sassed the school-ma am.
Come o o-on!''
They were coming, for school had
not been out three minutes, and none
of them had gone far from it. There
had been trouble in the little school |
house of late, and Bill Henderson had
been at the bottom of good deal OF it.
1t was not altogether because he was
so very bad boy, but he felt it little
hard to be as big as he was, and to be
bullied for his blunders by so very small
a woman as the school trustees had
chosen for teacher that winter. 1T
might have been different if there had
been any boy little taller to set him
GOOD example, but all the tall Toys
were attending school at the Academy.
Thus Bill was left to settle the difficult
ties in his own way, and he had not
vet been able to settle them at all, for
little Miss Varick refused to have mercy
on his mistakes of any kind. what
made it worse was that she told him,
three or four times a day, that she was
his best friend, and wanted to help
makes man of him.
Bill could have stood a great many
things better than he could that, for he
felt that he was quite near enough to
being man to be sent to the Academy.
There were other boys in the District
School, but none of them were large
enough to interfere much with Bill. and
he had his own way good deal in any
otd-of-doormatters. There were noteyen
any large girls, but there was perfect
swarm Of small ones, and Miss Varick
had somehow persuaded them all that
she had come among them as sort OF
guardian angel.
That was why there was such sud-
den silence along the lower benches,
and such buzz after it that afternoon,
when Bill Henderson roundly de-
cIared:
II won't spell it again.
..You won't, William? Did you say
i won't'P Spell it again, sir.
II won't I don't mean to let any
woman boss me. )"
'.Spell it, sirp'
Bill held down his head sulkily, but
he did not open his lips again in reply
to Miss Varicks further remarks, OF
which there were many, except at the
end of them, when he again blurted
out:
Il won't be kept after school, neither
not by any woman"
He had not been looking at the rows
of little faces on those lenches, and if
he had it would not have occurred to
him how many little women were sit
ting there, not one Of them comparing
in point of size with even little Miss
Yarick. .g,
Particularly he had failed to see the
look of wrath in the black eyes of Polly
Burbank, and he had no notion of what
made her buzz around so among the
other girls the moment Miss Varick
struck the small brass tea-bell on her
desk. and said:
s.School is dismissed. / will see
| William Henderson about this half an
hour before school opens tomorrow
morning.
There was a sound of something to
| come in the clear tones of the school
ma am voice, and Bits head was still
hanging a little when he slouched out Of
the door, and began to trudge along the
road toward home
Now, girls, let's pelt him.
1t was Polly Burbank's shrill treble
| ~. L la,rl bot anI ho ha 4
snow ball ready-made to show What
| she meant 1t was not a very big OF
/ hard one, but it hit him just under the
left ear, and Kate Sullivan followed i
| with another that went into his neck
At any other time he might have set t.
work and snow-balled back aga n. bu
he knew somehow that Miss Varick wa
watching the fun from the window, ane
that she heard Polly Burbank shou
again: ..Pelt him girls. He said sh'
was nothing but a woman"
/ That was the crime he had commit
ted, and he felt meaner and meane
| about it with every small globe o
packed snow that hit him.
i ..Pelt h m, Polly! Pelt him, girls
| Wen stand by you"
Bill hardly cared what boy it was tina
| said that; but he knew they were com
| inc back, and following along to Sc
| fair play. and that they would all b
against him if he dared rebel too say
agely against his small tormentors
| They grew worse and worse as b
/ walked faster and faster, and he wa
| thinking whether or not it would pa
to run, when who should drive alon
but Mrs. Dillaway, the minister s wife
| in her old red cutter, with old Mis-
Burns beside her.
s.Girls! girlsr' exclaimed Mrs. Dills
way. what are you all about?'
dyes said Miss Burns. what Q
yearth are they up top