Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1884-02-07
he BROKE UP THE SCHOOL,

Ihat Is the new chool-house, is it ?"
inquired Miss Alice Ray, the "new
teacher, "as the farmers plodding little
team passed by a little white house
standing endwise to the road, inclosed
in rather dilapidated fence.
"Yes, that's where you'll hold forth. !"
remarked Uncle Zeke Woodburn. "but
I'm Altered you won't hold out long, fur
we've got tho toughest set of boys in
the state, and Uncle Zeke gave kind
OF cracking little laugh as he thought
OF the timid, demure little damsel at his
side controlling the boys of Bear Creek
school. i 10 Z
But don't the directors expel them
when they are beyond the control of the
teacher ?" asked Alice, her heart begin
ming to sink at the prospect before her.
Expel EN-! no, we. never expel no.
body; ii teacher can't boss the school
we Just let it boss him; it ain't our fight,
an the school here generally bosses the
teacher, and thar's been some pretty
good men licked in that school-house by
the boys"
did not know the school was SO
sunruly," said poor Alice, wishing heart.
lily that she had hired out as washer
woman instead of trying to teach the
savages of Bear Greek.
"Oh, well, mebbe it went be 90 hard
this winter; thar's Jim Turner, he's one
of the toughest OF 'em; he'll be 81 in
month, and you'll get rid of him; but
thar's the Brindley boys, they're mighty
nigh as bad"
Poor Alice listened with sinking
heart. The cold, hard duties before her
were dreary enough at best; but to go
alone and unknown into strange neigh
borhood to teach her first school, and to
be met at the outset by such dark
prophecies, made her feel homeless in
deed. She was naturally timid, shrink
ing little thing, and if she hsd pos
sessed anywhere on the whole broad
earth roof to shelter her she would
have turned back from Bear Greek
school even then. But she had no home.
Her mother had died when she was but
IA, and she had kept house for her
father two years, when he died, leaving
her all alone. Before he died he advised
her to expend the little sum he would be
able to leave her in fitting herself for n
teacher, and Alice had fulfilled his direc.
tons SO literally that when she had COM
pleted her course of study ut the normal
school she had hardly $40 left, and
when she paid Uncle Zeke for hauling
her and her little trunk from the nearest
railroad town to the district where she
was to teach, she had but SIS left.
On Monday morning as shestarted for
the school-house she felt as if she was
going to the scaffold. Her course of
'pedagogics in the normal institute had
included no such problem as this
school promised to be, and if it were
not for very shame she would have given
her single SIS bill to any one to take her
back to the railroad and pay her fare TO
H., the town where she had attended
school.
When she arrived at the school. house
about twenty or thirty pupils were
grouped around talking, but q spell of
silence fell upon them as she walked up
and saluted them with o "good morn
ing which was more like the chirp of a
frightened bird than anything else. As
she unlocked the door and entered what
she had already begun to regard as a
chamber of torture, two or three slowly
followed her into the room, and deposit
ing their books upon the whitfield desks,
took Seats and fixed their eyes upon her
with stare that did not help to
strengthen her nerves.
All the rules and regulations of her
"Theory and Practice Of Opening School
Upon the First Day" seemed to vanish
and leave her head whirling in dizzy
helplessness. She tried to think Of
some cheerful remark, but her brain re-
fused to form the thought and her tongue
Glove to the roof of her mouth. She
could see in the faces of her pupils, most
of whom were now in the school.room,
that they were aware Of her fright and
enjoyed it thoroughly. By strong eff
fort she partially recovered herself and
bravely resisted the temptation to lean
her head on the desk and have good
cry. She felt that she must do some
thing or faint, SO she rang the bell,
though it lacked fifteen minutes to 8.
She began taking down the names and
{ ages Of her pupils, and by the time this
was completed she began to feel more at
ease. She then dbegan examining the
pupils in the different branches in order
q 10 assign them to their proper classes.
She had finished tie examination in oil
the branches except the advanced read
ing class, which was principally COM
posed Of grown girls and young men,
among whom VAS the terrible Jim Tur-
ner. Of whom she had been warned.