The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-07-08
A LESSON OF LOVE.
The StOryvof a Queer COurtship from
a Quiet Village School.

You can just fancy how / felt when
Sam drove up to the door n night
and l went out to get the package to
see brother Joshua's daughter Jemima
on the seat with Sam, chatting and
laughing away as merry as aicricket.
l was powerful glad to see the child,
but dreadfully mortified to find her
tucked in there with the driver. l
told Sam pretty sharply that he
ought to know better, for there was
plenty of room inside and / didn't
know what the boarders over the way
would think of it.
s'She was bound to ride outside, !"
said Sam, land willful oma must
have her way"
'rTVly, it's all the fashion up our
way.n said Mime. 1.-THE summer
boarders swarm all over the tops of
the coaches like so m~any.lovely bees;
but If it hurts anybody's feelings, I'm
sorry. A school marin must mind her
p's and q's."
"a school-marmg" l said, wondering
what the child meant. Then she told
me she'd come out take the poor
little widow woman's place; that she'd
written to the school master, for she
couldn't get along at the school there.
at would take a saint to put up
with their airs and their interference,
and you know | like to have my OWL
way said my niece JENNA.
''Out of the frying pan into the fire,
Mime,n l said. 1.-The school master.
has it all his own way here, and he's
little better than a brute. | have seen
under my own eyes q woman's heart
almost broken with him." Then |
went on to tell how he'd tOrlnented
the poor widow woman into giving up
the place, and how I'd. seen her worry
and fret till the skin fairly dropped of
her bones.
''Pooh, pooh!n said my niece; "the
skin won't drop off my bones,
aunty."
And couldn't help thinking what
APPLY it would be if it did, for whittier
and finer and whoiesomer skin L never
did see. 1t was the kind that SO often
comes with red hair, and q lovelier
color never was in blossom than
bloomed in Mines cheek when she
cried OUT
''I've got to fight it out somewhere,
aunty; let him mind his own business
and I'll mind miner
[ couldn't bear the thoughts of her
spirits and health being broken by
that dreadful Mr.. Steele.
I'M tell you, Mime" l said, as she
dried the dishes for me, "what Well
do. You shall stay at home with Inc
and help about the shop; there's bon
nets now and then to trim, and lots of
little knicknacks in worsted work to
be made"
"Now, aunty, said Mime, "a buffalo
would be less clumsy at trimming a
bonnet than l, and as for worsted
and"
Il suppose So" I said, for | could
see she was determined o.teach.
The next morning she went to
school, and for q month or SO every
thing went right, and l didn't hear q
word of from her. Shemade
fun enough for the schoolmaster, and
said he didn't know how to manage
the boys, and made himself more
trouble than was necessary; that a
coaxing word of hers Went further
| than a dozen slashes with that rod of
his: but every one had their ownway,
| and it was none of her business. She
was getting along s%plendidly, and
the smaller children were quite
delighted with a way she had
of picturing out things on the black
| board. Mime was quite ready with
| her pencil, and had made us laugh,
| Sam Riley and me, many q time by
scrawling off funny conceits on paper.
| Sam Riley began to drop in at night,
and | noticed he was quite taken with
Mime. Sam was well to do, and, out
side of his line of stages, owned a fine
house down on the main road. Sam
didn't mind being hit off himself once
in q ~while-him and his horses and
| passengers and all; he used to sit back
in his chair and laugh till the tears
rolled down his cheeks, and look over
at me, winling and blinking, and
| Whispering, under his breath, what a
! wonderful Woman shefwas.
She's as fresh and handsome as a
rose he would say when Mime was
out of the room; land what health
| she's got, and what spirits!'
[ could see how things were going.
| Dearl dear! ] used to sit and picture
| it all out myself, aud think how nice
it would be to have Mime settled near
me for life. So when she came home
one afternoon from school, with a
bright spot burning on either cheek,
an angry flame in her eyes, and said
to me that war had begunbetween her
and Mfr. Steele, ] didn't mind so much,
for | thought the sooner she got dis
| couraged the better. Sam was well on
to thirty, and though Mines skin
| made her look younger than she was,
| there wasn't so much difference as
| you'd think between their ages.
''He's forbidden my Illustrations on
the blackboard, aunty," said Mime;
and, though | didn't know one bit OF
board from another, I could see by
the way she felt about it that it was a
| great spite to Mime. HE calls them
pernicious and exciting to the ilnagi-
| nation; injurious to more practical re-
uuirements." said Jemima. And
| couldn't quite get the hang of his OBJ
iections, for every word of the school
masters was as long as the moral law,
but | could tell it vas some imposition
| of his. He's q narrow-minded idiot,
| and | shall tell him so, if he persists In
this notion, said Mime.
IF he persists | said, you'd bet
ter give it up. He's SO set in his way,
there's no use crossing him.
81 won't let him o me-" said
Mime, and she didn't. She went on
with her pictures on the blackboard
for a full week or more, till n night
there was a rap at the sitting room
door, and it gave me quite a turn to
,1o 4hn Ior,r horny firt1ra Of tho Sphnnl