News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-11-03

anu lelL ulSeUUleu, eACepU ny ley
herdsmen and squatters, until loni
after the rich river bottoms and tn
fair valleys hidden in the purpl
ranges had been fenced, plowed AM
planted. Here were the lonely up
lands of the Saltwater, and LOOmis'
Crossroads, by thickets of pine.
Loomis, the pioneer of the district
was a little olAman from Lake Cham
plain-a man with a history tina
shone out in fitful and often startling
CLEANS. He lived in a conglOmera
tion of lOg-cabins built on and arount
the original shanty, and kept a sOr
of hotel in the wilderness. His wealth
consisted of sheep, goats, cattle ant
horses, and no one knew how man.
sections of land he claimed. His fiv,
daughters and boys were always a
work, and at daybreak old Looms
himself was outside among his live
stock, or in the saddle and miles away
over the foothills.
The new teacher at Pine Grove dis
trict reached his field of operation!
one autumn afternoon, and was dl
rected to the Loomis ranch as tn,
only boarding place in Saltwater
He rode to the door, scattering sever
al groups of black hogs lying in sof1
holIows, and the old man looked VI
from the worn rawhide chair he was
mending.
"School-teacher, are you? Names
Tom Davidson, you wrote. Liked
your letter, and want to see you man
age lively. Turn your horses out
with the rest, and the boys will SET
that you get a good one to ride wheI
you want to run over to Redding OF
Milville. But you'll have to live OF
goat-meat. It's cheaper than NUT
ton this year"
The teacher laughed: "All right
| can stand it,"
"Then there's another thing. III
give you a cabin all to yourself. Pack
in your own woOd-pine, oak, mad
rome or manzanita-iust what you
like. Burn it all night. Walk, ride
hunt, do Just what you please. Only
buy your own candles, and don't &C
to declaiming pieces out of the speak
ers-book at three o'clock in the morn
ing, as the last teacher did. Charges!
! Nothing for the room, nothing fol
wood; three dollars a week for coffee
and goat-meat."
''All right" said Davidson again.
Bring on your Juan Fernandez diet
But if you hear of my roasting q
small porkeri in my fireplace, ofcourst
you won't mind ?"
81 do not object to anything on the
ranch-if it is nlyrespectable, replied
Loomis. "My children have grown
up wild-like, without a mother. /
you be a good teacher, | do not mind
what you do outside. One teacher
we had out here used to climb trees
for amusement Saturdays. l have
seen him in the very top of a digger
pine, and he stuck his clothes so full
of pitch that | have seen him have tC
pry himself off my doorstep when the
dinner-hOrn blew"
"Well," said Davidson, 81 seldom
climb trees. But | saw II pine about
IL mile east of here, on n bank o
gravel near n clump of laurels, tha'
| had "a remarkable cluster of cones
perhaps thirty growing together
about the crown. l think | wOulC
risk u pair of old Overalls on tina
particular tree some Saturday after
noon"
"Saw that, did you? There aim
another tree like it in the country
When you 90 away l will help yo1
get them down.
Loomis introduced Davidson to hi
five strapping girls and his frail, mar
row-chested lad in the following terms
"Children, there's your schOol-boss
He is a good one. Imeanit. What
ever he says or does, l will backit UP
Don't YOU sass him. When schOC
opens to morrow youjust settle dow
in harness, and no fooling."
They listened in undisgulse
amaZement.
"Pop generally says, this is I'd
teacher, and no more than that,
whispered one of the girls. "He ha
taken a shine to the new one, sure.
Davidson would not have been
successful teacher in cIosely-grade
schools. but he was exactly the fello
for a log-cabin district on the trOntie
He had not only read a great man
books and seen life in thousand a
, poets, grave and gay, but he homes
iy liked backwoods people, and mat
himself perfectly at home with then
: while still maintaining his authOrit
! in essential matters. The first thlT
t he noticed on the Saltwater, was Il
: dullness of life for the children theT
Y The district seemed to have no sOcl
= activity and no intercourse with OF
L er districts.
!, Il "They have dances and spreads
the Forks" said Melinda Loom
,, s'Up in the mountains everybody
Y sociable, and over in the minin
e camps across the river. But Sti
IS water never does anything"
Is Is "Well," returned Davidson,
it mean to have something happen he
o. at the end of the term, and you gu
c, must help.
,EE Melinda Loomis was the eldest
r the family, slow, solid, awkWa
u oirl of nineteen. the household druid
at home. but somehow very intiut
tial at school, and Davidson's fiji
~ allv from the first day. Other tea'
ers had ridiculed her poor recitatio
IS or her stupid remarks, but this tea'
er made her think that she could lea
something, and he spoke to her W
exactly the same Difference of mann
10 that he used toward pretty ia
'S' Snow. the beauty of the district.
Everybody will help, Mr.. Dav
Id son." she answered.
m, "Now, Melinda, a celebration all
u' means lots of work for the hou
an keepers-for you, for instance.
,ees5 want to find out, if | can, what
all would like most of all in this clos
at at entertainment; then, perhaps, WEI
he manage it."
N II do not understand. "
"This is what | mean: We are
"A have the old barn on the Bend, 1
~ give ii school entertainment for
' the people in the district, followed
III a regular old-fashioned dinner pal
J.. You are the best cook in Stillwatt
: so the boys say-and they will br
!" in a wagon load of game for the
casion. | can't put you in the ?
g ,st, a about "The Children of Pine Cir
173 Hollow" that | am writing for
the the occasion, you are more import
and elsewhere. But what can lido, Me
da?
You can't do nothing. Mob
q can"
y, "Then there is something's
"Yes'
OF "TelI me, Melinda"
les "Well it's this. | want my mo