The Russellville Democrat., 1885-06-04
THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS IN SHANTY.
 VILE.


 | The astonishment of the men in Shantyville when the announcement was made that a school-mistress was coming to the place would have been | comic had it not been so perfectly un- 1 called for.
 The movement which resulted in the | building of the school-house was caused much by a chance remark of Shorty i Davis as by anything else. Shorty, on 1 returning from visit to the neighbor- ing camp of Buster Gulch, said to the assembled crowd in Higgins's saloon
 I'll low ez how that place kinder lays over this yere. The men hez a respect fo' knowlidje, an they hez the finest schule-house you ever see.
 The rivalry between Shantyville and Buster Gulch was bitter in the extreme, and men said that when stranger from Virginia City like Shorty Davis could make such remarks, it was time to move.
 It must be confessed that the raw ms- | terial for schools was not abundant in | Shantyville. Of children there were but three in all; enc belonging to the underground boss of the .'Star of the West "a great quartz mine-and two were the pride and glory of the Widow Black. Still, though there were not many children to be taught, it could not be denied that they needed teach ing; and then, too, there was that disa- | greeable fact of the school in Buster Gulch.
 It being clearly impossible to do any thing in such matter without public 1 meeting, and it being as clearly amove- ment with which it was a respectable thing to be connected, the meeting in | question was called by no less person 1 than Squire Hatton-a gentleman about whom l could write at great length, had he any earthly thing to do with my l story As he has not, it must suffice l that say, he was in Shantyville the representative of responsibility. Under such auspices the meeting went off | beautifully, and as there was absolutely no opposition, 1t was resolved to build | the school-house and start the school.
 The house being built, the committee of which Squire Hatton was chairman sent to Virginia City for teacher, and Miss Mary Kennedy arrived in time, duly certified to as being competent. 1 And now you can see the unreason of the astonishment. There had been no secret about the thing; the very men who expressed the greatest amazement 1 had been foremost in the movement. | Yet the feeling was there. and it was thoroughly genuine. It gave rise, in time, to another feeling very much more curious that the school-mistress was not so much school-mistress as she was a public officer, in whose career all the taxpayers had personal | interest
 As have said. Miss Mary Kennedy arrived in Shantyville and went to live at the Widow Blacks place. This ar rangement was felt by all to be thor oughly right, for in view of the fact | tbat the widow was not well of, and her husband, Sam Black. had been one of the most popular men in the camp, a part of the money subscribed by the camp could not be better bestowed than upon her. It suited Miss Mary very well, because the place was convenient and clean, the food was good. although plain, and the widow herself was one of the cheeriest, incest little bodies any one ever saw. Miss Mary. having ar rived. took possession of her school house, and the opening of the school was naturally made the subject of a | celebration. The house was large, much larger than was required, having been built with an eye to it's future use as a place for public meetings, and was ct the opening comfortably well filled. The contrast between the three pupils and the crowd of visitors was somewhat amusing, but still the incongruity of the thing did not seem to strike any l one. The Committee of Arrangements. | probably with the idea of convincing all present that there were some chill dren to be taught, pla ed the three promi- nently upon the platform, where they sat in high seats. their legs dangling down and exceedingly uncomfortable. '' the o served of all observers. The open ing of the new school passed off beauti- fully. and Squire Hatton received the congratulations of every man in camp.
 But this story of mine is not so much about the Shantyville school as it is sDout the Shantyville school-m stress. As there would not have been any school-mistress had there been no
 chool, it was necessary perhaps to ac- count for Miss Marys presence in Shantyville, but this having been done, will go on to the story itself. And perhaps if is unnecessary to s!ate that Miss Mary was very pretty. She was small. rather dark, with large brown eyes and brown hair, and charming. In the latter all men in the camp were agreed, and none were more thoroughly 1 convinced of the fact than Jake Slocum commonly called Rhody, and his part ner, Tom Freeman. These two men were, respectively, superintendent and asssyer of the "Rattlesnake,n great quartz mine lying to the north of the "slar of the West They lived to- gether in one cabin, they shared what they made, and they had been ''pards" for very long time; in fact, long be- fore they had arrived in Shantyville. It had become bye-word in the camp, ''as fast friends as Tom and Rhody." Of the two, Rhody was elder, being about forty. while Tom could not claim more than twenty-five; but in spite of the difference in age they were thoroughly suited to each other Of the two, Tom was perhaps the more enthusiastic, the more prone to take up thing strongly, while Rhody was apt 10 talk somewhat cynically about Tom $ new schemes. When It came to doing, however there was not much to choose between them. Of course, Tom had been foremost in the school-house sct eme, aad equally as q matter of ..k .4