The Monticellonian., 1895-07-19

however did not serve to alter their opinion of us; twise heads will sometimes differ, you know) so with one accord they set to worl, to secure for our public school a principal who could and who would put the unruy set under restraint. They advertised far and near for principal whose ideas relating to tie use of the rod were exactly eoincident with those of wise old Solomon: one who be- lleveG both iu il, motive power and its drawing qualities and who had had practical experience enough iu it- Use to wiold it scien- tidcally NJ iast tbe7 succeeded in finding (to their minds such an deal one in the grand ald State of Tennessee. where the fighting sPirit ensen lered by the fiery tenn per af Hickory" Jackson scefns lot vet to have vhoj3Y ,ub,ided Accordingly one of their number lWith an amazing stretch Of vcracitgl set ahoat the rumor that an Indien q real Comauche Indian, had been employed toteach OUT public school during the term of 87-8s. Moreover it was positively asserted that he retained all the blood-thirstv charac- teristcs and viudctive disposition of his barbarie ancestors, that, ill his brief career us pedagogue, he had already mthlessly slain two hapless wretchcs, while under his Unfortunate tutorship, and that he would come into our midst prepared to wrcal sum mary vengeance on all youthful evil-doers. Great Was the eonsternalion that prevailed among us, the urchins in and around Monti- cello, upon hearing these reports. We be- lieved them all and imagined a great many more. We dreamed et ghost dances; of burning houses and villages; of murdered men and women; of small boys being tona- hawked and scalped for missed lessons and other minor etienses. Our youthful imagi- nations seemed truly to be building in every direction We readily concluded that the coming principal WAS a lineal deseendent of A Crcrk Warrior who had escaped the dead lv missiles of Jaekson's mnrderous rihemen at the battle of Hurse-shoc-bcnd We thought that he would disdain to ride on train, re- garding it IS an innovation of civilization, al- lb1ttIti cut Nl lldi lFHliN AILIl Gih SdAb1t propcgsitcs. We mentally pictured the savage gentleman as crossing the great Fath- er-of- Waters in his bireh-bark canoe; as bid- ding adcu to the land of his sires; as mount ing his irreprcssible mustang and riding into our town in true Indian style, with his war paint on and his eyer-present bow and ar- rau, md t.p,oba,,.I- l.,.rli,cr ot lie si1a Mutterings of discontent and rumblings of coming conflicts were rife amougg the ur- chins. Councils of var were held, but no action taken. Oyerawcd, we tremblingly watched and waited. Time passed and the principal soon arrived; nor did he come on his obstinate mustang, but rode on the train. By tbis fact We were somewhat treasured, and mustered up courage enough to peep at the principal, through windows and from be- hind doors, as he passed along the street. We approached the school house on Mon day morning, with our hearts beating like sledge- hammers ard our hair standing somcW hat like poreupine bristles when said animal becomes very much frightened straight up and down you know.
 Scbool-boY-Iike the first matter that claim ed our attention upon arriving was thorough inspection of the principal Ne fixed our optics upon him, turned on the search-light and subjected him to n most se-utinizing in spection. Well, he stood the test We de- cided that if he were an Indian he was an exceedingly civilized one Some of the boys however, in pugilistie parance, pronounced him '.game from comb to spur" and as con elusive evidence of that unusual precoeious- ness on our part heretofore mentioned, we decided that if any fighting had to be done, it would be the better part of wisdom and yalor too to let the principal sound the toe sin of war.
 Me dared not be aggressive. The Indian yarn was still fresh in our II inds It's effect, which we suspect was most beneficial, was to keep Us, for a time at least, purely on the side of the defensive.
 The weeks passed swiftly by, and ere long our forebodings and dread approximations had changed to admiration and respect for the principal. Instead ol using brute force, about which we had heard so much as an incentive to study, he substituted those high CT and better ones, the Royal Seven " Hear them and see if am not right. A de- sire for standing; desire for approbatiou; d desire for knowledge; desire for power; the hope of future good;sa sense of honor and a sense of duty. am certain that you will bear me out in saying that these were the prime incentives which prompted us to the acquisition of knowledge. A generous spir- it of rivalry and an earnest desire for excel lenee was engendered within Us. A high school department-somethmg that had been sadly wanting in former years-Was added to our public school, New life was infused in- to it. It became then, as it is now, though it has since passed into other able and eff eent hands, the pride of our town.
 For three terms we had the same faithful teacher and the same excellent school. Ours -the class of '90-was tue first and last to % forth from the high-schooi department Of the public school.
 It was a pr>ud moment when we received OUT diplomas, and well 1t might be. They represented tous much toiI, much effort But l believe that not one ofour class was so silly as to think that he or she had learned t all We realized Chat the worl, which we