Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-08-26
An Uncommon Proceeding.

An Uncommon Proceeding.
"lIow cold it is growing" said Miss
Wait, the teacher of the common
school in the then brisk little manu-
featuring village of Shattuckville, as
she tied on her soft blue hood, button
ed her warm flannel cloak, looked at
the window-ia iastcnings Of the not over
commodious or attractive but snug
schoolroom, locked her desk, and care
fully shut the danper Of the air-tight
wood stove, preparatory to quitting
her domain of labor for the night.
AS she picked up her rubber over
shoes and stopped to draw them over
her shapely kid boot, she cogitated:
"Oh, dear! Tommy Ilowes red
toes sticking 80 palheticaIIy through
those old gaping shoes fairly haunt
me- woT.der if, in all this prosper
Gus, busy village, there is no way of
getting that poor child deCently clad.
must think it over and see what
can do about it.
Twcnty-four hours later the leading
man of the village. and the owner Of
the little factory there, who, years be-
fore when poor boy, had stranded
down from Vermont to this little
hamlet, eccentric and brusque, but
kind-hearted, keen-eyed, and observ-
ant of all that was going on within
his domain, was walking along the
street and met q bright-eycd and
sprightly lad of 10 speeding ahead
with that amusing, unconscious, con-
sequential air that a boy carries with
his first brand-new pair Of boots.
"Old SAM Whittier, as this gentle
man was familiarly called, not by
reason of advanced age by any means,
but because of his supremacy as the
mill-owner and employer of all the
help in the hamlet, took in the situa-
tion at glance, and called out to the
absorbed child,
"Ilullo, youngster! where dye get
them fellers?'
"Teacher gave them to me, sir" and
the lads tatLered cap came quickly off,
and he stood with it in his hanG.
docs she buy boots for all the boys
in the school," lie growled out.
"GueSs not; but she bought Joe
Briggs a Speller and Jane Cass an
arithmetic, and she gives away stacks
of slate-pencils and paper and ink, and
such things"
"What made her go and buy them
nice boots for youy"
"She said she wanted to, sir; and
when | said | had no money to nav
her for them, she said she'd rather he
paid in perfect lessons; and | will try
my best to pay for them in that way,
you may be sure, sir"
"Pretty good sort Of teacher is
she, bub?"
"Oh, yes, indeed! guess she must
be the best teacher that ever lived, sir
she tells us about so many things
that we never knew before; and she
wants us to he good and honest and
not tell lies, and she says we shall be
men and women by and by, and she
wants us boys to know something SO
we can own factories our own selves
some time. The other teachers we've
had only heard our lessons and let us
go, but she's SO differentv
"Well, well, bub. 7 shall have to
think this business over little. Now
run along, and 90 to scratchn' over
them perfect lessons don't SUD-
pose you'll find person in Shattuck-
vile better Judge of perfect lessons,
or how much they are worth, both to
the teacher and to the scholar. than
Old Sam Whittier. So, bub. look
after your ways, and | shall look after
YOU"
The next morning a little note writ
ten in coarse business hand was
dispatched to the teacher by the hand
of one of the children. 1t ran as fol-
lows:
"MIss WAIT: / have heard of some
rather uncommon proceedings on your
part as a teacher toward your scholars.
l would like to inquire of you person.
ally as to particulars. win you do
me the favor to run over to my house
directly after the close of your school
this afternoon.
SAMUEL WHITTIER"
"What can | have done" thought
that little teacher, in such a peturbed
state of mind that she corrected John
ny Shows mistake in his multiplied
tion by telling him seven times nine
was ffty-four. Indeed. she let the
mistake go so long that every little
hand belonging to the second primary
class was stretched up in Il frenzy of
excitement. Let me see; what is it