Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29

4
to glance at the title-"The Beecher Trial.
and lay 1t back accurately on the clean
| square 1t had occupied Of the polished ma
.hogany surface. 1 was much relieved when
| the early dinner was announced. Seated
| at the table. I could Ill conceal my dis
may. A very wilted and overdone round
steak. cold Saratoga chips. 'ready-made,
which had evidently left Saratoga at some
previous season, canned peas, pale bread
] from the bakers. tea with condensed milk,
| and for dessert blanc mango. also served
with condensed milk.
! breathed a sigh Of regret that every
| thing choice and homely and superior in
country life had been abandoned. while
| everything narrow and dismal had been
nurtured and maintained.
The school teacher was boarding with
Mandy, and came in little late to din
| ner. She was q slender girl. with intelli-
gent eyes and a beautiful brow and smile.
quired about her school She confessed to
| twenty-five pupils, from A B to the nth
| reader.
How do you manage this mixed schoolT
] I asked wistfully; for in that painless Sa-
hara l once had foundered.
She looked at me with wide-open hazel
| eyes.
I'm the usual way" she replied; and
| meant ''in the only way"
| Il have three classes In reading. three
| in spelling, and the A C's. / hear the
| arithmetic lessons In the forenoon. three
| classes: writing and geography and gram
each"
1t was If had backward. oh. back
| ward" turned Time in his flight" to my
| own school days.
"You read the Testament In the morn
ing. reader after dinner. and spell twice
day." ! asked. mechanically.
| "And the little ones sometimes lie down
! on the bench and sleep. and you fold
shawl for a pillowr
And you give these no other recess than
the older onesr'
you do not read to them or show them
picturesr'
You have no concert exercises for all,
nor singingT
mo drawing or history with picturesr"
And you dare not take them out on the
| grass sometimes for lessons?"
mo"
! And you have some apparatus in a case.
and two of the planets are broken offT'
| Three Of the planets"
All! One more planet OF It's axis since
my day. They must have found the key.
| then, at some period, and lost IL again.
And you expend much time and strength
Eyes. That is the hardest thing have
| to do"
"You do not speak pieces or have compost
| tionsg'
mo. The parents do not approve"
DO you play inside games rainy daysT"
| mo The committee will not permit II,
for fear the stovepipe will fall"
] All, that stoyepipei i remembered the
wire. which. under Providence. preserved
US from disaster.
"And the boys and girls take recess
apartT'
| YES"
| ''The boys play very roughly. but the
| girls do not play at all. but sit on the step
or the entry table?"
Have you any school ubraryG"
| There used to be a small collection"
Yes: the books wore out and finally the
! mice ate them
And you are all glad when term closesr'
| "Yes"
| During this conversation I lived Just
| seven years. and went to school every day.
| with my dinner In a basket.
| After It I rose and said goodbye, very
| solemnly, passed through the clean, inef-
fable parlor. and felt as II the funeral was
| over. and IL I wasn't going to the grave
1 must go home and make q dried-apple
pie for supper.
| But rallied myself UP to date when the
] back to the station and stood by the
| 'peach-try" and "hollered. "and sooner than
l should have expected was on my way
| to the old place"
i
questions, and for the most part answered
| none: yet the old driver rambled on and
did not notice my irresponsive attitude.
Member the day you started for nor
| snow-bank and broke the bottles Of ink
and camphor in your satchelT'
I nodded.
"'Member when you come home and
your father was sick and you wanted me
| to trot my horse through that piece of
| sandy road, up by Luman's?f
Member when Moses and Ed swung
the rebel flag on the old Griffin house. in
| war time, and Sam Grosvenor pulled 1t
| down? He was killed In the battle of Fred
| ericksburg.
Member how the officers came after
| Nose and Ed and couldn't prove nothin'.
| till they asked Sary Lib her dogs name,
| and she said JEFF Davis and then they
carried Nose off to Fort Laffiette and Ed
listed. and that ended the war in Flanders.
| Member how your grandma used to let
| in every shack and feed 'em, no matter
| what time o. night. Folks use to say she'd
be robbed and killed, but la, she want
| 'fraid O. nothin'. There want a soul this
| side o. Podunk wouldn't a fit for her. You
! use to be jest like her. Member how, when
| the rebel flag was a wavin' and Nose and
| Ed there with pistols. you marched past,
stripes and stars Is high as you could hold
1t, singin' John Browns Body top O. your
voicer Be you that way now?
| There's Uncle Pitt comm out to speak
| to you. Shall stop and hitch?'
| was Slau 10 see OnCie fltt- he looked a
| million years old when was a girl, and he
| didn't look a day older now.
| why, Uncle Pitt" said as he made a
| feint to roll down his shirtsleeves, but
thought better of it. do you pretend to
] work at your age?'
mo-" he answered briskly. Il don't pre-
| tend to work; work.
| Planting potatoesT
| Eyes"
docs 1t payf'
Laws, no. Rain and drouth and bugs
and rot! 1t don't pay for the Paris green"
why do you plant them, them"
"Why do we plant 'em? What should we
do with 'en7 Amt nothin' else to do but
| plant 'em, and hoe 'em, and dig 'em-what
| the bugs leave-and sell 'em for nothin'."
| why don't you try another crop?"
] Don't know nothin bout no other CROP
Know all about potatoes Alters raised 'em,
| alters SHALL"
Why don't You go west and grow up
| with the country?'"
| 60 westi Ughr' the old man snorted
| Didn't Alb Leete go west, and wasn't he
oarnation glad to get back. too? Said there
was jest as good a chance to make money
| here as out west, and better neighbors, and
| live more like folks"
Il heard you say that to my grandfather
| forty years ago. Where did Alb Leete go p
| Il don't know. Somewhere out In the
Il