The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-12-30

May It bring to all SOME happiness
| or JOY, Of pence galore.
A happy New Year to friend Ailu foe,
Greeting to gtelt and small,
Watch tenderly over tbs all.
HIS HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Ordinarily the fail term Of schoUi in the
Brown district would have closed before
| the holidays, but this yedr there had been
an invasion of measles right In the middle
of the term, necessitatihg a>yacation of
two weeks, and Director Hathaway had
insisted that the teacher make up the lost
time, much to the disgust Of the yotinger
children. who had thus been deprived of
their holiday freedom.
But the teacher had not been in the
least incommoded by this prolongation of
| the term. Herbert Allen had enjoyed his
first term i'll Il country school. For some
| reason, which he had never stopped to
analyze there had been Il peculiar fasci-
nation about his work, although it had
been in a sphere of life and amid environ
ments SO different from what he had
dreamed of year before:, Aid yet lie
of the school board and had been recently
informed that his services would not be
needed longer
And now oil the last afternoon Of De-
cember, the term was over. The school
had closed with EXERCISES and the whole
community had turned out to hear them.
The boys had stammered through their
pieces the big girls had read their 'ies-
| says and the little ones had gone
| through their songs and emotion exer-
| cises' to their own great satisfaction and
| the infinite delight of their admiring par
ents. Director Hathaway and Elder
Sloane, at the teachers invitation, had
an eddication" and the proper training
of the young" and the teacher had spoken
| few words of modest farewell.
At last all was over, the last scholar
had said goodby to the teacher and gone
The young master seated himself at his
table and sighed deeply as he looked
| around the now quiet room, especially as
| his eyes rested upon the seat of Helen
| Hathaway, the charming young daughter
| of the director.
The schoolhouse, on whose interior he
was so disconsolately gazing as the set
| ting sun shone through it's windows and
| lighted up the familiar objects-the charts
and pictures on the walls, the neatly ex-
ecuted maps and drawings, the specimens
of busy work" done by the children, the
notices and diagrams and quotations on
the blackboards- been indeed a pleas
ant place to Herbert, save for the one dis
turbing incident. Many cheerful mod
ern schoolroom can be found in the coun-
try districts Of the middle Western states,
and it is easy to see how an enthusiastic
| refined young man like Herbert Allen
could become attached to such pleasant,
| intellectual workshop.
1t would have been even. easiei. to Tin
derstand his fohihess for the spot if one
| COULD have seen the sweet face of Helen
Hathaway and noted the deep interest
which she evinced in her algebra and his
tory, and the readiness which the young
teacher displayed to help her in her pur-
suit Of knowledge. 1t would have amused
dislnterested observer to see the earnest
devotion with which the pedagogue and
his most advanced scholar delved into the
| mysteries of quadratic equations and how
willing the young man appeared to
'show" his interested and interesting pr-
Pill. ~
Such amiability. however, was hot at
all pleasing to John Wafteii, another of
the oldest, though by no means brightest,
scholars III School. Before the advent of
| the. new teacher. John had been the re-
| ciplent of an occasional smile from the
directors daughter, but of late the
young lady had apparently forgotten the
young man in her deep absorption in al
geDfa ana history.
1t was this unfortunate condition,
| that had led to Mr.. Aliens discontinue:
Squire Warren was a neighbof Of Difec-
| tor Hathaway and the two farmers were
firm friends, So when the squire's son
| began to make disparaging remarks
! aboNt the teacher, and the father, whose
talth in his only son was unbounded, had
| become prejudiced against the young
fhn fo r;
rector and easily persuaded that worthy
ofhclal, whose Acquaintance with the
| teacher had extended little further than
had been incid entaf to the duty of max
ing a. contract with him, that "young.
Allen was not q lift person to conduct
our school,. He is too familiar with the
scholars and hasn't enough dignity to
I'LL such responsible position
director Hathaway was man OF
promptness and decision, whose will was
law with the board, So when he called
his colleagues together and delivered his
opinion that the teacher was top yeuhg
and inexperienced to conduct the win
meekly acuuiesced, though they both felt
in their hearts that the young man had
| performed his duties WELL
50 IT came about during the last week
OF the term that Mr.. Allen had been given
formal notice that his services would not
De needed any longer. He had been
| announcement and his pupils had shown
their disapproval of the boards arbitrary
action in a way that threatened open re-
yolt-all but John Warren, who could
hardly repress his exultation at the turn
affairs had taken.
! One year before this Incident uerber;
| Allen had been the favored only son of
a rich merchant h all Eastern city. His
mother had long beef, in the grave and
| Herbert had spent most of his boyhood
! Gays III a famosls preparatory school.
| Just as he was ready to enter college,
| nhancia1 disaster came upon his father,
death. This sudden blow of fate left
Herbert dependent upon his own re-
| sources. Young and resolute in char
acter, ne made his way to the West and
finally found the. congenial work in the
| country school which he had pursued 80
happily until cruel fate had again
thrown him upon selfish world without
the means of employment.
eo many tne young ex-teacher, as he how
| 1elt himself to be, was aroused from his
lrever1e by rap at the door and before
ne could recoiiect his wandering thoughts
ming, stumbled into the room with n iri-
| ter Ill his hand. Say, teacher" saitl the
BOY. Il was down to the CORNERS tn ue1
H'tu mail and MIR. Jones wanted me tn
| tetch TINS letter for you. He said it had
oe en- IN n II, the office most two weeks
"Ihank you, Charlie my correspond
ence is 50 limited 1 had forgotten tbere
was such a thing as a postoffice." and he
LOOK the business-like envelope in his
n mand ana wonderingly tore it open. It
New York, Oct. 3, 1S95-Ofice Of T w
renn1man, Attorney and Counselor Mt inv
Dear y" s,r Aile r.. Qakvllle Corners, Mich-My
been looking for your address and have 1 tnst
t tnis gay learned it. | now hasten to inform
wv W.. OF very agreeable turn i'll your affairs.
When your late lamented father became in.
VOWED In financial difficulties, one Of the
largest ana most valuable of his steamsbins
the Dolphin. bound for, the East Indies. wax
reported lost in a tropical hurricane. with
out attempting to inform you Of details,
s WINCH can better explain III person, viii
SIMPLY say that this supposed loss, followed
ny inability to obtain the insurance, came at
q. critical time and brought on the failure.
1t now transpires that the report was In.
correct. On the Goth of Iuly onlv thrao