El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-13
!: HOW TODDIE JONES
WAS SPELLED DOWN.


There was new girl in school. She
was not pretty girl. She had fiery red
hair and frcckIcs and the tiny little
pug nose which invariably goes with
the combination.
Toddic Jones disiikcd little girls
when they were not pretty. and al
though Fannie Sanders appeared TO
have all that could he desired in the
way Of good manners and temper. Tod
die lost no opportunity for teasing
her.
Toddic's teasing was something one
wished To- avoid.
Iii. Frccklcs, Whcrc'd you get
'em:" was his favoritc way Of saluting
the luckleSs Fannie.
lie devised various means to tor
rilcnt her. He tied her poor little pig
tails fast to her chair that she
could not get up to rccitc when the
teacher called upon her. lie trippcd
her up with Irvine strung from the
rounds Of one desk To another, he pin
ned pieces of paper To- the back OF her
dress calling attention 10 her hair
and frecklcs and he even went so far
as to slyly prick her with pins when
he found her good nature was proof
against all other annoyanccs.
In fact Toddic Jones set out TO make
Fannie's life miserable. and IL it Lad
not been for Il certain circumstance
no doubt lie would have succeeded.
All of this would not he worth tell
ing If Toddie Jones had not held so
prominent Il place among his class
mates. Toddie WAS not only first on
the playground and among his school
fellows. but he easily distanced them
in studies well.
And il is IL curious thing To record
that Toddic WAS more proud or his
achievements in school than out There
was nothing on earth ic liked so well
as to b. able To figure out sum on
the blackboard that the others had
failed in or to be- called upon To read
for the superintendent or to display
his writing when the school commits
sioner called or to- spell the class down
at spelling match
Spelling match days We're great occa-
sious. but up to this time the children
had grown rather tired OF them be-
cause of the fact that Toddie always
carried off the prize, and 1t is quite GER
tain that no one would have cared for
them at all il the teacher did not occa-
-sionally offer n second prize.
\ grand spelling match was ordered
FOR the close of school. Every one en-
tering was given a pretty little red
ribbon badge to wear. and the school
room was specially decorated for the
occasion.
Two prizes were TO be given. the
first a 50 goldpiece presented by the
new superintendent himself and a lit
tie fancy box filed with candy as
prize for the second best.
There was little doubt in the minds
of the pupils as to who would win the
81 goldpiece. In fact, Toddie was al
ready specializing on the strength of it
.'See here, Jim Davies" he said to
the village carpenter. Il will want to
see you next week about making that
fish aquarium. You say you can do IL
for So
Toddie thrust his hands deep into
mis- pockets with the air of young
millionaire and Jim grinned and nod
dcd
The momentous day arrived. and the
children, with freshly scrubbed faces
and hands and clean pinafores. assem-
bled in the scbooiroom. Mothers and
fathers were there. too. to witness the
spelling match
1t was a proud moment for Toddie
Jones. He saw them nodding and
whispering about him, he watched his
teacher out of the corner of his eye as
she explained To the new superintend-
ent about her brightest pupil" and
he waxed warm and glowing under the
fiatteripg smiles of the little girls.
There was only one little girl who
did not smile at him. That girl was
Fannie Sanders. Fannie's small pug