The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1897-08-12
IN THE "SKEETER RDEESTRlC'

] v.
breeze that kissed the buttercups and
daisies, birds that sang and bees that
hummed made Arcadia paradise one
summer day many years ago. On the
rolling hilltop there are many acres
of beautiful beech and maple forest
land, without clearing, break, or dlvl
ding fence, save where smooth and
shady road crosses it in curving line.
Near the edge of the forest the
the road forks, and the fork was
guarded once by huge beech tree
that cast deep and mellow shade
over the little red schoolhouse that
then stood there. Through the bran
ches of the forest trees one could see
traces of childish occupancy; messy
wood knOlls rallied of into "houses" by
broken poles placed from Ole conve-
nient lowhranching sapling to another,
piles of stones serving as seats; broken
bits of crockery arranged upon de-
caying bit of board, curious sticks and
| pebbles stored with care; such were
tie entrancing chubby houses" of
the country child.
In front of the Skeeter school house
grew yellow sugar lilies. and their
scent was waited through the open
| windows to tantalize the children
J sitting there. Through the doorway
| of the narrow entry one could see
pals and caps and bonnets, thrown
down or hanging low upon the wall,
| could be heard in droning monotOnous
4 IL, oil
we're bounding Louisiana and telling
of the cotton, cane and rice that came
from that unknown land. Soon the
tread of bare footed boys and girls
told that the spelling class were toe
ing the crack: Il, 2, 3, 4, 5, g. called
the teacher Il, 2, 3, 4, 5, g." an
swered childish voices. Receive, de
ceive believe" tha whole vexatious
column was laborionsly and oft mis-
takenly spelled. Only one of the class
land she had been greeted with deri
sive giggles when coming to the
crack spelled the words without hesi
tation and always correctly.
AT length the last change in posi-
ton was made, and the dreary ordeal
was over Hannah, you have the
head mark, take your place at the
foot" was the command. Number
|, 2, ;, 4. 5, g., III position, school dis
| missed" were the qmck, decisive
| words A moment of silence, rattle
and scramble and bang, told that
school was out"
At the corner of the Skeeter school
house stood Hanna jerks, with down
east face and pouting lips, martyr
to the sneers and jibes of her narrow
| world who stood gathered around her
there. They are dainty couDtry las
sizes. gowned and tricked out with all
the latest styles of Arcadia. Poor
little Hannah! Dressed in a dark,
snuff colored. llnsey woolsey gown,
plain of rufile and tuck. two bare feet
| peeplng from under the hem, one
| brown toe digging a mole in the dirt.
downcast face with two sorrowful
eyes blinking and winking that the
tears might not fall,-poor, pitiful
little won an!
"Why don't your aunt get you
caliker dress?" Whv don't you have
a tin dinner pall?" "My mother
says your aunt oughter be shamed to
have you round, such a looking figure.
I'm glad l don't belong to your aunt"
Think you can spell, don't you? Well,
if you can get 20 the head ef the class
you ant fit to be seen any way
See her run, look at her go" This
| was what the Skeeter children said,
and then Hannah jerks went flying
/ up the load.
On the northern side of the forest
there stood a low red house; the door
and windows were open and through
them one caught glimpses ola neat
clean kitchen with an open pantry
door and its shiny dishes, the milk
pans set to dry. the mossy barrel in
/ the corner with the little trickling
stream dropping from the leaden pipe.
| BY the pasture bars the cattle stood
waiting patiently for milking time
In the distance Hannah's aunt was
returning home from an afternoons
neighboring.
H.nnah gave one glance at the dis
tant figure and rushed up the stair
way to the attic where her pallet
was, hastily disrobed and replaced the
linsey woolsey gown with faded
dark blue calico which was dear to
her, Tor it had little narrow ruffies at
the neck and sleeves, an outgrown
dress of a cousin whose mother had
thus adorned it. Clothed in this
skinny gown and with the linsey
woolsey rolled tightly under her arm
she quickly fled to the woods again,
needing not an exasperated call from
the hill. Far into the recesses of a
maple forest. to a secluded haunt that
only she could find and in its midst
there lay log, too gnarled and cross
grained for the farmers ak and left
to rot away. There in decaying log
the linsey woolsey gown was stuffed
and the aperture carefully flied with
stones and hid with leaves and ferns,
and then, slowly and soberly, Hannah
returned to her unloved home, return
ed To the house on the knoll to shiver
and cover under the cruel blows and
harsher words that waited her there,
to go supperless to bed and cry upon
her pillow until her sweet gray blue
eyes were closed in troubled sleep.
Years passed away Many seasons
passed over the school in the Skeeter
Deestrir' and the little red house On
the knoll: aud Hannah jerks had
grown IT, 'enmanhood.
BY and ny, she herself taught the
school in the Skeeter Deestric', and
then 10y the help of close economy
found her way to Mount Holyoke and
then to a teachers place in larger
school
Once, so they told me. passing a
summer vacation in Arcadia, she told
her oil and feeble aunt what she had
dared to do with the linsey woolsey
= 'iress, and together they found their
Way 10 the parlor In the fir tree thick