The Opelousas courier., 1894-01-13
Down the road on a SLOW csnter came


deal can appreciate how very trying
this first day was to ie to thA y"nn-
teacher. At 9 o'clock the bell ran",
| and W. took our seats. Some goo IN
stinct must have guided Miss Hope Ill
making the schedule Of names, classes.
and so on, for she began with the row
in which the best behaved pupils were
seated. Next was Barbara row.
What is vour name?' inquired the
young teacher.
"Some folks call me Red Top.
eyes? What do your parents call
yon?'
Barbara.
barbara what?'
"Hunter."
ssHov Old exa yea. RAxhaxa Hun
<er7"
"Past ten"
"How many years raetF
"Five."
What do you read in. Barbaraf'
ga book, Miss Hope
In this way she and her followers
sried all day to annoy Miss Hope; BOT
she seemed not 10 uotict tnelI LNN.-
ness.
Not till afternoon did she discover
her present. Barbara had put it in a
crayon box on her desk. The first Ian
yaage class was called-ten boys ana.
girls. Miss Hope, eagerly studying
their sweet faces, drew the box toward
her to get some crayon. She slid back
the lid, put i'll her hand, but drew II
back quickly with rn exclamation Of
pain. There, clinging to her hand,
was a blind mole, its teeth nearly
through one slender finger. In a sec
ond it had relaxed its held and was
creeping round the floor. One big boy
with a ready boot would have crushed
the little creature, but Miss Hope laid
her handkerchief over it and lifted 1t
back into the box.
"We will use the mole for our les
son." she said. "Who can tell me
where moles live, what color they are,
and all about them!'
Although her face was pale and her
finger swollen, she never asked a word
about how the mole came there.
There were good blackboards in the
school room, and the wall had been
newly kalsomined, but the large apart
ment looked bare and dismal. We had
always been accustomed to this, and
were not a little surprised to find, one
morning, pretty pictures on the walls,
polished horns hung up by brightrib-
bons and filled with flowers, calendars,
a thermometer, little oilcloth mats for
the teachers desk, and various other
improvements. The room looked very
inviting and pleasant.
One day Barbara was even more way
ward than usual. She would not learn
her lessons at all. Miss Hope kept her
after school. It was some minutes be-
fore she spoke a word to her. Then
she did something SO naturally and
kindly that the girl could not be Of
Tended. She took her own brush out
of the desk and said:
"Barbara, do you know you have
lovely hair? I'm going to arrange it
for you"
While thus engaged she talked OF
the beautiful places and things she had
| seen, telling her stories and anecdotes,
! until Barbara forgot her wrath and
laughed outright. TheL Miss Hope
put her arms around her.
barbara, let's be friends. Don't
| YOU want to be?" she asked.
Il don't know. I've been SO bad
and-and-I put that mole on your
desk"
eyes, I know"
"And you are not angry?'
"No, only anxious about you, dear"
| And then she talked to the repentant
girl in a kind, earnest way she never
forgot, and which made her Miss
Hopes fast adherent.
The young teacher knew quite we'll
how che was regarded IN the district.
Her methods were SO practical andnew
that they caused comment, and she
| herself was SO young and pretty and
happy hat the old fogies in the dis
trict shook their heads and sighed.
| They knew something dreadful would
| happen in that school before the year
was done. Fancy a teacher standing
by and watching a boy climb the
tallest tree he could find, or turning a
rope for a girl to jump! She had even
been known to approve of foot races,
hand springs and wrestling matches !
When the trustees, having been i'm
| portuned again and again, consented
to go with Mr.. Sawyer to expostulate,
she laughed and queried:
"Why, gentlemen, have you for
gotten your own youth? You did all
these things yourselves. 1t is achild's
nature, and if my pupils want to
strengthen their muscles in the old
way, I'm going to be on hand, if pos
sible, to help in case Of an emergency.
You haven't any idea how much strong
er some of them are growing. See how
rosy and erect they are"
Down the road the scholars came,
forty-two in number; with flags,
broomsticks, mouth organs, tin basins,
boxes, anything with which to make q
noise.
"Mercy on US! What a din! How
can you expect those bowling urchins
ever to become quiet, law-abiding
citizens or even verge on being good
men and women? If you have any
control whatever over them, Miss
Hope, I beg you will bid them cease
their noise"
"Peace Sawyer! And you, Miss
Hope, will you let is see what they
will do next, please?"
Certainly. 1t lacks half IN hour
L. aala.l 4..a l.4 H. l.. a..