Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-10-18

| N'SVSu " course "a heV come
81 IL lad snowed bilin' water, an ez I'd
been waitin' for ye nigh on to three
nouIs' was so cohsumedly tiekled TO
MINK you come, didn't stop to think
ABOUT nnthin else. Can you git along
without it tonight:"
ooh, yes" she answered, Il don't care
if it isn't LOST
Then that's all right" he said, IN a
greatly relieved tone, getting in the
sleigh beside her. "I'n get it for YOU to-
morrow Of | hey TO overhaul every train
/ G1ong!'
The horse moved a little, but refused
to start.
Cit up!" he called louder, what ails
YET" Then in different tone he ex-
claimed; "Wal. by gracious! Of amt
the biggest fool that ever--I don't know
what amt uuhitched the critter."
While the erestfallen stranger pro-
ceeded to remove this slight obstacle to
their locomotion, May burst into hysteri-
cal laughter
Il don't blame ye none Cor laughin'. ="
no said Il shouldn't find no fault Of We
said you wouldu't ride one step with such
q knowuuthin' as l be"
AS there was no house ia sight and the
snow was nearly two feet deep, and sun
/ falling, no inviting alternative seemed to
present itself, and he got baeS into IN :
4 sleigh, laying plaintivelg: - amt al
ways this way but I auz beiiggled at
seem ye / don't seem 70 know whether
| I'm foot or a horseback"
May was too bswildered end frightened
to make much reply to the .zanger's sells
accusations.
/ She supposed that he was the "hiring"
committee who WIS to meet her at Hun.
tersyille, where helive6, o-d take her to
/ his home, where she was to board, but her
natural timidity and morbid lear OF DO
/ ing anything to ''attract g.fea on" kept
/ her from asking any ques 0u
| The night was very dara. lantern
| hanging on the dashboard cast grotesdue
shadows of the horse on the roadside,
| from which, now q snow drift, now an
| evergreen loaded with snow, apparently
leaned forward for an instant and then
drew back into impenetrable gloom.
! 4 vague sense of horror added itself to
| the homesickness Of the trembling
girl,
| Perhaps the man beside her was no
| con non placs committee mar at all--in-
| deed this executive stranger was very m
/ like the ideal committee to whom she had
sent her little rewritten, re punctuated
letters, fearful last his critical eye would
discover some objectionable grammati-
/ cal error which would make her timid
! aspirations toward the dignity of q school
ma'am abused in his sight.
| Perhaps he might be some rohber who
inhabited the fastneses of these gloomy
mountains, who had left her trunk for
some not very obvious reason of his
own, and who would shortly add the con
tents of her bag and purse 10 his ill-got-
ton spoils. His features were not visible
in the darkness and might wear an ex-
! preston of incoLoeivable ferocity, but
the tones of his voice were so sensible,
! kindly and whole souled that she felt an
uuacoountabls sense of comfort and Sc
ourity whenever be spoke, though in the
| long intervals OF silence that fell upon
them as they iourneyed slowly and labor
| iously through the snow drifts and dark
ness, her fears could hardly be con
! troled.
"You'er little thing, amt yer" he
| finally remarked abruptly.
eyes" she faltered, feeling that he
might consider this an unsnrmOuntable
obsticle in the way of her managing the
big boys in school
"Would that be any objection"
"Land, no, - no responded reassuringly,
81 like little women"
May had a dim, underlined feeling that
when school was regulated by the likes
and dislikes Of the committee, there was
an i'm parative call fer civil service reform
somewhere.
wild and improbable, tale she had
once heard of school committee who
always insisted on kissing all the female
teachers, flashed across her mind along
with vague fear that this men beside
her might resemble him in this respect,
but she bushingly dismissed 1t as an i'm
modest suggestion, unworthy OF any de-
oorous Imagination.
Presently her companion after clear
irg his throat several times preparatory
to speaking, but not being able to carry
his conversational attempts further than
an occasional "Gid dap" 70 his horse,
began with q manifest effort and much
unaccountable confusion and embarras-
ment which he tried yainly to conceal by
interpolating various remarks Of en-
enlargement to his horse, "i've got your
LETTERS, an you've got min e--glang an
I'm suited an pleased ez-ez-gid dap,
bat if you hain't all you've got TO do "a
Just TO say-git out of tnat--the word an
1 shan't find no fault-what yer dom
nor blame you none, I'm kind man
DO yer want me to hit yer again EFF do
cay it-whst Eils yer-an' don't think
you'll ever be sorry, bat eff you should
wanter-send to yer bizness-back out, 1
wish you'd say so soon's you can conven
ieI.t,
Nay listened TO this incoherent haran-
que with a deepening of the confusion
and alarm with which this whole adven-
ture inspired her. She wished, for not
the first time, that she had neveI thought
Of teaching school, but she answered
bravely: II don't know why should
withdraw now, if l am considered suit
able for the place"
"Thet's the way to talk, responded the
other with great oheerfulness, IAN here
We b. 20 home"
The forlorn would be school ma am was
again taken in strong arms, carried
through the snow, aud this time deposit
ed in & queer little room, with q blazing