The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-02-10

make good impression on the suscepti-
hle natures of the big girls. One day he
had a chance. He had two uncles in the
town-two at least, perhaps more. One
of them had lent him the pistols with
which he so happily avoided bloodshed,
and the other now lent him a horse.
| The horse was one of those horses that
ought always to be allowed to have their
own way, that have acquired through
long years OF study and experience Ger
tain tried and fixed methods of doing
| their work, which cannot be disturbed
without endangering the whole progress
and effect of the work itself.
Mr. Butler was one day riding this
horse along the road. and the horse was
keeping his usual pace, which was based
on such philosophical principles and
mathematical calculations that in order
to be performed correctly it had to be
performed slowly, when the schOOlmas-
ter deserted group of the big girls COM
ing toward him. That pride which eve'
goeth before fall seized upon hlm
and made him desire to make brave
display of his Craftsmanship and of his
steed's activity, and just as he came close
to the girls he smote the beast with his
whip and dug him in the ribs with his
heels. The horse, who was a perfect
st. Anthony in his Indifference to girls,
and had not even noted their presence,
was so surprised by the su9denness of
the demand made upon him for an in
crease of speed that he did not allow
time to take his legs out of the tangle in
which he usually kept them, made an
honest but ill-advised effort to go for
ward with all four of them at once and
landed on his knees. The rider pitched
forward, struck the horses head, knocked
out two teeth his own, not the horses -
and cut his lips. The admiration of the
girls was changed to mirth and then to
horror as they saw the snow becoming
stained with blood, and the master nat
urally became hero again, though in a
less comfortable way than he had hoped.
He afterwards got some new teeth in
place of those he had lost, and they were
thought to be an improvement, as the
old ones had been built on the same plan
as his eyes.
1t happened one day that one of the
boys of the school had been for some
time conducting himself in manner
highly disapproved by the master thereof,
and the latter desired the former to come
from his seat and stand in the open por-
ton of the floor, where his ignoniny
might be an example to the rest of the
school and where his further misGeeds
might be the more conveniently watched.
But the pupil was averse to this arrange
ment, and refused to comply to the de-
mand Mr.. Butler threatened to make
the bad boy come, if he would not come
of himself, and the bad boy defied him,
saying that he was not big enough. But
Ter, not knowing in the least how he was
to carry out his threat, for indeed he was
not especially big, trusted to luck and
began by grasping the boy by the collar
and trying to pull him out of his seat.
In this he failed at first, as he must have
expected to do, fol- the refractory pull
twined his arms and his legs about the
desk and the bench and could not be
moved.
In this extremity the future ornament
of the Bar decided on a change of venue.
Slipping his hand down the boys back
till he reached his trousers. he took a
new hold there and pulled again. This
time unexpected fortune attended him,
for portion of the material of the trOu-
sers, or rather the material wherewith
they had been reinforced, came away in
his hand. The coming General saw and
his enemy felt the tactical advantage
gained by this flank movement, and the
master feeling himself in q position to
dictate terms, cried; Now come out, or
I'll make sans,culotte of you" And
then the boy came. But the next day
his mother sent for the master to come
and see her, for she wanted to know
whether she was supposed to have no
better business than sewing patches ON
her boys trousers for him to pull off.
Mr.. Butler fearlessly obeyed the sum-
mons, and what passed at the interview
is not known, but it is supposed that he
exerted some of the power of persuasion
which afterward served him we'll in the
presence of the jury, for it ended in an
invitation for him to stay to supper.
1t only remains to be added that
the facts in regard to the incidents here
subscribed are furnished by the man who
was once the bad boy who was so out
generated by Mr.. Butler.