Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-10-09

won't your father lick you, Watt"
shut up! He's got no father, and
his mother never licks him"
Wat walked off, with his nose in the
air, and just around the corner he ran
squarely into the schoolmaster who
was to take the place temporarily Of
the regular teacher, who had broken
his leg. Wat shifted impudcntly and
would have walked past, but Jan de
Jough put out hand to stop him-put
it out with diiidence, hesltatingly, al
most as an inferior might do.
"Tt is time for school, Master
Thoms," said he.
81 am not going to school today"
"And tomorrow"
mot tomorrow"
MAY | know why?'
Wat looked to one side and another.
rather abashcd, and then insolently at
the young schoolmaster.
"White men," said he, should not
be taught by--by black men,"
He ran away and did not see the
flush of anger and sorrow that red
dened De Jough's olive checks. The
schoolmaster looked after him for a
second and then slowly proceeded to
open the school.
This happened in Natal, whore are
many men of different raccs-English,
| Dutch descendants, Portuguese, Ma
| lays, descendants of the coolies
brought in old times from the East In
dies as plantation workers, and KAT
! frs. SO there are many social ranks
and grades, Wat was an English boy,
brought out to the colony when u baby,
and as the English rank highest in the
country and never would think of
mlngling intimately with the other
races Wat, being only twelve years
old, had rather exaggerated idea of
his own and his peoples worth
Jan de Jough was not black man.
though his skin was dark, like most
! Italians. He was the descendant of
Dutch and Portuguese ancestors, who
| long, long ago had owned the country
before the Englishmen took it as the
spoil of war. just as America today
MAS come into possession of the Phil
| ippines.
Mr.. de Jough was downhearted.
Most of the boys We're of English par
entage. and if Wat, their leader. re-
! belled he foresaw n falling off in at
tendance and the consequent loss OF
| his first position, his first stepping
stone. He was right. The boys. small
as they We're, were hnpudcnt and I'M
ruly, and Jan dismissed the school de-
| spondently.
Meantime Wat, for sufficient reason,
! did not go straight home. He doubted
his reception by his mother might not
be altogether cordial and appreciative.
1t was hot, as it usually is on the coast
of the Indian ocean. One advantage
the heat brings to the boys is that one
can go swimming any day almost all
the year round. Wat, wandering along
by the surf, soon felt the sun Cypress
i've, and when he came to cove
which he and his chums knew Well as
a swimming place where the surf did
not break too violently he naturally
came to the conclusion that a bath
would be a good thing to break the
lonely monotony of the morning. He
was. like most boys in warm countries,
a first rate swimmer, and he had no
hesitation in plunging into the huge
Indian ocean even when quite alone.
He left his clothes on the beach near
some rocks without fear of pilfering
wanderers. for the cove was some dis
lance from the town and spot where
few ever wandered. He ran in with a
dash, paused to catch an incoming
breaker just at the right moment be-
fore it broke. divad beneath its crest,
swan vigorously under water fer a
minute and came up putting and blow
ing on the glorious swell of the waves.
with the sun glowing down upon him
in warm hearted approval.
Wat turned en- his back and let him
self be rocked luxuriously. One mo-
ment he would be lifted up so that he
could look far out to sea or inland at
the vast extent of greencry, and the
next he was down in a great hollow,
with nothing before his eyes but the
cloudless blue above and the CLASSY
waters reaching up at his sides like
precipitous mountains.
"Poof-oof-ow" cried the boy. This
is better than a stuffy schoolroom with
a low burgher making you study the
idiotic history of the country. He had
n cheek to think he could teach Eng
lish boys wish he was here, and I'd
teach him to swim. Wouldn't l duck
him? Oh. no. Certainly not"'
He was like fish. He reveled and
played in the sea like one Of its own
inhabitants A home bred boy of a
colder climate used to one or two
months swimming In the summer holi-
} days, would not have believed a
twelve-year-old youngster could be SO
, much at ease on the breast Of the faith
: omless ocean. Wat struck out to deep.
! er water with bold. swift side stroke
! and soon was standing, monarch of all
! he surveyed, on great black rock
which broke the force Of the waves as
they strove to dash. with headlong
strength, into the quiet cove
AS he stood there, with joyous eyes,
facing the ocean dehantly. as his
races eyes have done for centuries and
! do today, sudden interest increased
their wide brightness, a quarter mile
, out from the beach of the little bay,
but only half that distance from the
, rock on which he stood, lay on reef