Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-04-09
LITTLE MISS JOYCE.
by Mem Linton.
copyrighted, 1856, by $. 5. Mccrure.l

secure ana keep teacher Tor any lengtn
of time This state of affairs had been
brought about by several halfgrown
bows, we'll in their teens, who had
never had any training at home, and,
col Jequently were ungovernable ut
school, and a nuisance in the community.
The first teacher had resigned and gone
away in disgust before the term was out.
My father was one of the Board of Drec-
tors. The board met with only one appl-
cation to consider When my father came
home we beseiged him with questions con-
corning the new teacher
al thin k" said he, with mock gravity,
well have order out of chaos, now
there Il look in her eye that means bust
ness"
"Reuben ~ said my mother with anX-
ious solicitude, "wouldn't it have been
better to have hired Il man teacher this
term -
1--WE had no choice, my dear There
was no other applicant. And now, boys, !"
turning to Mark and me, "when you can't
be gentlemen at school," putting a good
deal of emphasis on the word, insisting
that it covered the whole ground "Tu
put you to work on the farm" That eau
ton was all that we needed. We knew he
meant business, too.
This was the middle of the week. There
was nothing seen or heard of Miss Joyce
that was her name-till the following
Monday morning. We were gathered in
little knots about the school yard, won
derluG what she would be like, anyway,
when a carriage drove up: a lady alight-
ed, walked briskly up the path, throwing
CHEEKY good morning right and left, I'M
locked the sChOolhouse door and went in
The driver followed her with large has
ket. Think if il bornb-shell had exploded
in our midst, we could not have been more
completely amazed.
Jon 9du Ndl precll' lnt le'uleT OF
breatb ~ "ni,id nicl her nm WI, 7, bomiI
aud mn her in NV 1HrEat = ''''''''
"Whar dat muSkpetcr | seed ,,,yine er-
long dis cr wall, - c11rd the mimic sam
Wilder running q IittIe WAYS and hmm.
ING mo and CLAIMING his hands togrtRer
"T'nclp ,;anbo where, vnn,. Glnsses ~
said pore Dnrspv .Vuur mnsnitifo il onl,.
q harmless little ouat. -"
Theer sallir. evcItnd ta,ls of I.uohter
which had scarcely died AWAY when he
hell rnnr and we mnrchrd in and took
mr. nl,r1 If vouid hn ditlicnit +o'sal,
inst what the scholars eynertad to see in
The new teacher.
That if was sonethinr entirely different
from what they had anticipated their lncrs
readily showed But | can only sneak
f1ntinint lN rptroIt a myself Rpn,nfD
berinr what NV fnther had said '"Th4rr's
4 look i'm her eve that means busiunss -
and also rpupmbprino th.t hpr nrp,lncns
sors. a, far rs knew. had ali hnen of 0rn-
proIls nronortions had framed his NOR
+r,it i'm nv ninI's ave-
tan raw honpd musruInr woman of
at ieast IL with sterl- hInn ewes tn whom
the darkest drcpntinn wis aS the Lace ot 81
cobweb And there She was not NV nor
trait surely. but the new teacher never
Mary Narthv. | never read Robert
BroWniuu's "Flirbt of the Duchrss'' when
he sketched
.,,,.. ..,,--.
i"c Sin"iicsl "onn"h awe
without thinking of her as she stood on the
platform that Monday morning. A dim
jnutive form, but of perfect symmetry, Il
face all sunshine and dimples, laughing
brown eyes and an abundance of fluffy
gold-brown hair rolled into Il glistening
coil high on the head. This last, | pre-
sumo was IA device to increase her stat
ure She did not look Il day over IS, but
we afterwards learned that she had Just
turned her 25th birthday. When she
spoke it was like listening to a chime of
bells, so musical and so perfectly modu-
lated were the tones of her voice. She
spoke with simple directness
Ny dear pupils am Miss joyce. YOUR
teacher for this term am very glad Ito
see YOU all. have brought a heart full of
N.
we shall get along admirably together,
and do each other good. 1t is always my
custom to open school each morning by
repeating the Lords PRAYER and. asking
his guidance and blessing on our efforts
for the day We will repeat it together.
please"
She followed the beautiful prayer to the
end. but not voice ioined hers. | know
YOU could have heard IL pin drop, the 81
ience was so profound. / had been accus-
toned to hearing it repeated in our fam
ily circle and in the pulpit as far back as
| could remember, but never with such
power and pathos as that. 1t was an in
SEPARATION and deftly brought ont such
realistic spiritual meanings as had nev-
er dreamed it possessed | felt my heart
made so tender that knew | could Shed
tears if were not a boy ~ wears old and
too big for that sort of thing. on, won
derful magnetic power "And I will
draw all men unto me" said the man of
SORROWS The spirit of the Master was
working i'm orr midst threIv one hnr-