The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1900-01-19
Dan Roby's Tige
BY ]. L. Harbour.
i VITHOSE dog is that?"


Jabez Jordon, the new teacher, speak.
He had nodded unsmilingly toward sew
eral of the boys and girls who had
reached the schoolhouse before him
that frosty October Monday morning
when he took up schoo" in the little
brick schoolhouse on the crest OF bill
under a cluster of silver naples.
There were about IS boys and girls
of from five to eighteen years of age IN
the schoolhouse yard when, at nine
O'Clock, Jabez Jordon came to the door
and rang hand-bell with great vigor.
1t seemed to some of the larger boys
and girls that the notes of the bell
sounded like slogan of defiance.
They had filed into the house rather
soberly, and were taking their seats,
when a yellow-and-N.hite uncollnred
dog of mongrel origin came sneaking
in, as if well aware of the fact that he
was an interloper. He was skulking
forward, casting furtivc glances around
him, when Jabez Jordon called out, in
harsh. high-pitched voice:
"Whose dog is that?"
Dan Roby, boy of IS, replied: HE
is my dog, sir"
swell, put him out! Don't you know
better than to bring dog to school?
81 didn't intend to bring him. He
followed me of his own accord, and l
couldn't drive him back. Come. Tige!'
Tige refused to 60, and Dan had to
grasp him by the hind legs and drag
him toward the door amid dolorous
whining and yelping. Some of the boys
and girls laughed, whereupon Jabez
Jordon struck his desk with his fist and
said, sternly:
"Silence!"
The effect was instantaneous. A pin
could have been heard to drop. Tige.
in the meantime, was scratching on the
closed door and whining for admit
lance. Five minutes later Dora Harvey,
tardy conner, opened the door to enter
the room, and Tige darted in ahead Of
her, wagging his tail joyfully.
Jabez Jordon scowled fiecely.
what did you go and let that dog in
for?" he demanded of Dora Harvey,
who was one of the gentlest and best
girls in the district. The smile on her
face gave place to look Of combined
fright and amazement.
III didn't mean to let him in, sir.
He pushed in ahead of me when I
opened The door," said Dora.
IF you'd been here on time it
wouldn't have happened" said Jabez.
Then he turned to Dan.
Drag him out again and take him
home!" he shouted. "This isn't q
school for dogs!"
Tige was even more unwilling than
before to 20 out, and when Dan ap-
preached, ran up and down the aisles,
trying to evade capture. In his fight
Tige overturned the small wooden box
Oh which the WATERFALL stood, thereby
drenching himself from head to foot
with icy water. More laughable still,
he caught the descending pail on his
head. and could not get it off, the bail
having dropped down around his neck.
In his frantic writings, he overturned
small wooden bench on which Tommy
Dodge and "Henny" Pope sat, and they
suddenly lay wailing on their backs in
pool of water.
Get that beast out of here!" fairly
roared Jabez, striding down from the
platform toward Tige, who suddenly
eXtricated himself from the pail and
took refuge under the stove in the
center of the room. Dan dragged him
out by the tail, and they went home
together, neither boy nor dog returning
that day.
This incident did not leave a very
favorable impression of Mr.. Jordon in
the minds of his pupils. His predeces-
sor, Mr.. Haskins, had been a gentle
spirited and kindly man, and some of
the pupils remembered that once, when
Tige had followed Dan into the school
room when Mr.. Haskins was teacher of
the school, he had said gently: II must
ask you to take your dog out, Dan,
he attracts so much attention" and
Mr.. Haskins had allowed the children
to laugh unrebuked, and had himself
laughed over Dams almost unavailing
efforts to remove Tige.
The pupils of the Silver Maple school
speedily discovered that sense of hui
NOR did not form any part of Mr.. Jor-
don's mental makeup, and that he was
an unnecessarily and unreasonably
harsh man, with no sympathy for child
hood and no disposition to concede any,
thing to its natural tendencies. The
pupils were too obedient for even a
harsh and tyrannical man like Jabez
Jordon to find many excuses for using
the long birch rod he kept on his desk;
but when the rod was used, it was with
brutal force and cruel effect.
Mr.. Jabez Jordon was extremely vain
of his personal appearance. He dressed
we'll and with great care. He even kept
small hand-mirror in his desk, and
although he assumed that its purpose
was to make pupils who came to school
with dirty faces look at themselves, it
was certain that at recess he would sit
with the mirror in one hand and a
pocket-comb in the other, and as the
boys expressed it, "fuss with his hair -
This hair of his was noticeable for its
great abundance and giossiness. 1t was
black, and but lightly touched with
gray, although Jabez Jordon was GER
tainly. nearly GO years old. He wore his
hair in bushy curls and waves all over
his head, and he was almost continual
~ tossing his hair about lightly with
the tips of his fingers. II was manifest
to the eyes and to the i,ostrils of his
pupils that Jabez Jordan made liberal
use Of cinnamon-scented hair-oil. Sven
the girls who disliked the teacher most
admitted that he had lawfully pretty
hair"
He was very indolenf. Dnrinn The