Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-10-18

their iocomotion, May burst into hysteri-
cal laughter.
II don't blame ye none for laughin'. T"
he said. ~ shouldn't find no fanlt eff ye
! said you wouldn't ride one step with such
knownuthin' as be-"
AS there was no house in sight. and tins
snow was nearly two feet deep, and still
| falling, no inviting alternative seemed to
present itself, and he got back into ths
sleigh, saying plaintively: Il amt al
ways this way, but 1 Wuz 81 bejiggled at
SEEM ye l don't seem TO know whether
I'm foot or horseback"
May was too bewidered and frightened
to make much reply to the strangers self
accusations.
She supposed that he was the ''hiring"
ommittee who wss to meet her st Hun
tersville, where he lived, and take her to
his home, where she was TO board, but her
natural timidity and morbid fear of do
ing anything to 'attract attention" kept
her from asking any questions.
The night was very dark. i lantern
hanging OF the dashboard cast grotesque
shadows of the horse on the roadside,
from which, now 9 snow drift, nov an
evergreen loaded with snow, apparently
leaned forward for an instant and then
drew back into impenetrable gloom.
a vague sense of horror adde's itself TO
the homesickness of the trembling
girl.
Perhaps the man beside her was nc
common placs committee man at all-in-
deed this executive stranger was very I'M
like the ideal committee 20 whom she had
sent her little rewritten, re- punetuated
letters, fearful last his critical eye would
discover some objectionable grammati-
cal error which would make her timid
aspirations toward the dignity Of 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 70 his ill-got-
ton spois. HIS features were not visible
in the darkness and might wear an ex-
preston of incoLceivable ferociby, but
the tones of his voice were so sensible,
kindly and whole souled that she felt an
unaccountabIs sense of comfort and Sc
ourity whenever he spoEe, though in the
long intervals of silence that fell upon
them as they journeyed 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 abrGp pity.
eyes," she faltered, feeling that he
might consider this en- unsurmountable
obsticle in the way Of her managing the
big boys in school
Would that be any objection?"-
"Land, no." he responded reassuringly,
II 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.
A wild and improbable, tale she had
once heard of school committee whu
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-
corous Imagination.
Presently her = com panion after clear
ing his throat several times preparatory
to speaking, but not being able 30 carry
his conversational attempts further than
an occasional "Gid dap TO his horse,
began with a manifest effort and much
uuaccountable confusion and embsrras-
ment which he tried vainly to conceal By
interpolating various remarks of en-
couragement to his horse, GIVE got your
letters, an you've got min a-g 'lang-an'
I'm suited an pleased ez-ez-gid dap.
but if you hain't all you've got TO DO Is
just to say-git out of that-the word an
L shan't find no fault-what yer doin'-I
nor blame you none, I'm 9 kind man
Go yer vans me to hit YER again-ef do
say it-what ais yer-an' l don't think
you'll ever be sorry, but eff you should
wanter-send to yer bizness-back out,
wish you'd say SO soon's you can conven
ieI.t,
May listened to this incoherent harsn-
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 never thought
of teaching school, but she answered
bravely: 81 don's know why should
withdraw now, if / am considered suit
able for the place"
"rhet's the way to talk responded the
other with great cheerfulness, San here
We bN to home.'
The forIorn would be school ma' am was
again taken in strong arms, carried
through the snow, ana this time deposit
ed In queer little room. with q blazing
open fire, presided over by an awkward
boy who WAS the only occupant of the
room.
"Here she ia,'' said her host to the boy,
"an' now take the horse-he amt quite
tuckered-an' go after the minister,
quick. He said he'd ne, rain or shine,
an he's got TO-"
The examining committee in her native
village had always been the minister, and
she realized with a sinking heart, that
this energic man determined TO have the
questions of her eligibility for the school
decided this very night.
You'd ruther hev him come tonight"
he asked, seeing something of her feel
ing in her face.
why yes" she gasped, 81 suppose the
sooner it's over the better"
81 kinder thought you'd sorter ruther
hev him come to night" he returned, re-
| !ieying his easily aroused embarrassment
by pokiDg the fire vigorously. "D'you
ever read that awful comical book-dern-
ed If I remember the name of 1T wish
you could hsv read It, you'd died alaugh
in. I can't remember how It all went,
but there was one Teller, he was a-5elkin'
to the minister, an SEE he to himself. seq
he-the minister, you know like you
psrd! an I'll HEX any Teller that don't.
Wal, them's my sentiments exactly. I'm
an awful homely lookln' Teller, amt ?"
he asked, with sudden irrevelance.
Mag looked at him squareIy for the first
time.
| Re had taken off his fur cap and coat
and stood before her, blonde giant. But
in his candid blue eyes and on his large