Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-11-27

ting with their tc0' pressed against
wall for hours together. Mr.. Walters
was very earnest of mien and very sim
cere and honest at heart, and he held
sacred things and places in such rever-
ly matters that, unconsciously to him
self, his Sunday school voice had ac-
wholly absent Oh weekdays. He began
after this fashion:
Now, children, want you all to sit
up just as straight and pretty as you
can and give me all your attention for a
minute or two. There-that is the way
good little boys and girls should do. /
see one little girl who is looking out of
the window. l am afraid she thinks l
am out there somewhere, perhaps up in
one of the trees making a speech to the
little birds. (Applausive titters.) 1
want to tell you how good it makes me
feel to see so many bright, clean little
faces assembled i'll a place like this,
learning to do right and be good," and
so forth and so OH. 1t is not necessary
to set down the rest of the grafton. 1t
was of a pattern which does not vary,
and SO it is familiar to us all. The lat
ter third of the speech was marred by
the resumption of fights and other rec
reations among certain of the bad boys,
and by fidgetings and whisperings that
extended far and wide, washing even to
the bases of isolated and incorruptible
rocks like Sid and Mary. But now every
sound ceases suddenly with the subsi-
dence of Mr.. Walters voice, and the con-
clusion of the speech was received with
burst of silent gratitude.
A good part of the whispering had
been occasioned by All event which was
more or less rare, the entrance of visit
ors-Lawyer Thatcher, accompanied by
very feeble and aged man; fine,
portly, middle aged gentleman with
iron gray hair and dignified lady who
was doubtless the latter's wife. The
lady was leading child. Tom had been
restless and full of chaings and repin-
ings. Conscious smitten, too, he could
not meet Amy Laurence's eye, he could
not brook her loving gaze. But when he
saw this small newcomer his soul was
ablaZe with bliss in a moment. The next
moment he was "showing off" with all
his might-cuffing boys, pulling hair,
making faces-in a word, using every
art that seemed likely to fascinate a
girl and win her applause. His exalta-
tion had but one alloy-the memory of
his humiliation in this angels garden
and that record in sand was fast wash
ing out under the waves of happiness
that were sweeping over it now.
The visitors were given the highest
seat of honor, and as soon as Mr.. Wal
ters' speech was finished he introduced
them to the school. The middle aged
man turned out to be a prodigious per-
sonage-no less a one than the county
judge, altogether the most august crea-
tion these children had ever looked upon.
and they wondered what kind of mate
rial he was made of, and they half
wanted to hear him roar and were half
afraid he might too. He was from Con-
stantinople, 10 miles away, so he had
travelled and seen the world. These very
eyes had looked upon the county court
house, which was said to have tin
inspired was attested by the impressive
silence and the ranks of staring eyes.
This was the great Judge Thatcher,
brother of their own lawyer. jeff
Thatcher Immediately went forward, to
be familiar with the great man and be
envied by the school. 1t would have been
music to his soul to hear the whisper
ings. "Look at him, Jim! He's a-going
up there. Say-look! He's a-going to
shake hands with him-he is shaking
hands with him! By jings, don't you
wish you was Jeff?"
Mr.. Walters fell to "showing off, "
with all sorts of official bustling and ac-
tivities, giving orders, delivering judg
ments, discharging directions here,
there, everywhere that he could find a
target. The librarian "showed off, :"
running hither and thither with his
arms full of books and making deal
of the splutter and fuss that delights in
sect authority. The young lady teachers
showed off," bending sweetly over
pupils that were lately being boxed,
lifting pretty warning fingers at bad
little boys and patting good ones low
ingly. The young gentlemen teachers
Showed off" with small seedlings and
other little displays of authority and
fine attention to discipline, and most of
the teachers of both sexes found busi-
ness up at the library by the pulpit, and
it was bust ness that frequently had to
be done over again two or three times
with much seeming vexation. The little
girls "showed off" in various ways,
and the little boys "showed off" with
such diligence that the air was thick
y