The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-18

tOuCI Oi pSTeIll OIOflEeSS.
Thus adjured, Jimmy Snyder came up
glowingly, and bristling with full stops and
exclamation points.
Sect a black bar comm outer Dawes
wood ;" he said, excl edly. Nigh to me ez
you be. N big ez a boss; N snarlin'! n
snappin'!-like gosh! KEN along-ker
clump torords me. Reckoned he'd skeer me!
Didn't skeer me worth cent | heaved a
rock at him-l did now! lin defiance of
murmurs of detisive commeut)-'n he slid.
Ef he'd KEN up furder I'd hev up with my
slate AND swotJed him over the snoot-bet
your boots!n
The master here thought fit to interfere.
and graveiy point out that the habit of
striking bears as large as a horse with a
school slate was equally dangerous to the
slate twhlca wss also the property of Tue
lumne county, and to the striker and that
the vero 20 swOt" and the noun substan
tive ''snootH were likewise lndefensible, and
not to be tolerated. Thus admouished
Jimmy Snyder, albeit mistaken in his faith
III his own courage, sat down.
A slight pause ensued. The youthful Fill
gee. taxing advantage of it, opened in a
higher key; "Tige it'll but the masters
attention was here diverted by the search
ing eyes of Octayia De IN, a girl OF IL, who,
after the fashion of Ler sex, preferreda per-
sonal recognition of her presence before she
spoke. Succeeding in catching his eye, she
threw ack her long hair from her should
ers with al easy habitual gesture, rose, and
with a faint accession of color said:
"Cressy Mckinstry came home from
Sacramento. Mrs Mckinstry told mother
she's comm back here to school"
The master looked up with an alacrity per-
haps inconsistent with his cynical austerlty.
Seeing the young girl curiously watching
him with all expecJant smile, he regretted
it, Cressy MckinStry, who was 10 years
old, had been one of the pupils he had
found at the school when he first came. But
as he had also found that she was there in
the extraordinary attitude of being ''en-
gagged" to one SEN Davis, fellow pupil of
10, and as most of the courtship was carried
on freely and unceremoniously during
school hours, with the full permission of the
masters predecessor, the master had been
obliged to point out to the parents of
the devoted couple the embarrassing effects
of this association Oh the discipline of the
school. The result had been the withdrawal
of the lovers, and possibly the goodwill of
the parents. The return OF the young lady
was consequently a matter of some signiti-
canoe. Had the masters protest been ac-
cepted, or had the engagement itself been
broken off? Either was not improbable.
His momentary loss of attention was John
ny Filgee'S great gain.
"Tige," said Johnny, with sudden and
alarming dlstinctness, 18th got thix pupths
notify yaller."
In the laugh which followed this long
withheld announcement of an increase i'll
the family Of Johnny's yellow ana disrepu-
table setter ''Tiger," who usually accom-
panied him to school and howled outside,
the master joined with marked distinct
ness. Then he said, with equally marked
severity:
"Booksm
The little levee was ended, and school be-
gan.
1t continued for two hours with short
signs, corrugations of small foreheads, the
complaining cries and scratching of slate
pencils over states, and other signs of minor
anguish among the more youthful of the
flock; and with more or less whisperings
movements of the lips, and unconscious
soliloquy among the older pupils The
master moved slowly up and down the
aisle with a word Of encouragement or ex-
PLANTATION here and there stopping with his
hands behind him TO gaze abstractedly out
of the windows to the wondering envy of
the little ones a faint hum, as of invisi-
be insects, gradually pervaded the school;
the more persistent droning of large bee
had become dangerously soporific. The
hot breath of the pines without had in
vailed the doors and windows; the warped
shingles and Notwithstanding at times
creaked and snapped under the rays of the
vertical and unclouded sun. A gentle per-
SEPARATION broke out like a mild epidemic in
the infant class; little curls became damp,
brief lashes limp, round eyes moist, aud
small eyelids heavy. The master himself
started, and awOke out of perilous dream
of other eyes and hair to collect himself
severely. For the irresolute, half-embar
raised, halliday figure of man had halted
doubtingly before the porch and open docr.
Luckily the children, who were facing the
master with their backs to the entrance, did
not see it,
Yet the figure was neither alarming nor
unfamiliar. The master at once recognized
it as Ben Dabney, otherwise known as
Uncle Ben" a good-hImored but not
overweight miner, who occupied a small
cabin on an unambitious claim in the out
skirts Of Indian Spring. His avuncular
title was evidently only an ironical tribute
to his amiable incompetency and heavy
good nature, for he was still a young man
with no family ties, and by reason of his
singular shyness, not even visitor in the
few families of the neighborhood. As the
master looked up he had an irritating recol-
lection that Ben had been already haunting
him for the last two days. alternately APP
pearing and disappearing in his path to and
from school as more than usually re-
served and bashful ghost. This, to the
masters cynical mind, clearly indicated
that, like most ghosts he had something
of essentially selfish import to communi-
cate Catching the a partitions haf-ap-
pealIng eye, he proceeded to exercise it with
a portentous frown and shake of the head,
that caused it to timldly wane and fall
away from the porch, only, however, to re-
appear and wax larger a few minutes later
at one of the side windows. the infant
class hailing his appearance as a heaven
sent boon, the master was Obliged to walk
to the door and command him sternly
away, when, TeJreating to the fence, he
mounted the uppermost rail, and drawing
a knife from his pocket, cut a long splinter
from the rail, and began to whittle it in pa
tent and meditative silence. But when re-
cess was declared, and the relieved feelings
of the little flocK had vent in the clearing
around the school house, the few who
rushed to the spot found that Uncle Ben
had already disappeared Whether the APP
pearance of the children was too inconsist-
emit with his ghostly mission, or whether his
heart failed him at tho last moment, the
master could not determine Yet, distasteful
as the impending interview promised to be,
the master was vaguely and irritatingly
disappointed.
A few hours later, when school was being
dismissed, the master found Octavia Dean
lingering near his desk. Looking into the
girls mischievous eyes, he good-humoredly
answered their expectation by referring to
her mornings news.
II thought Miss McKinstry had been
married by this time" he said carelessly.
Octavia swinging her sachel like censor,