The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-10-14
HF had JUST STARTED FOR THE DooF
WITH HER N HIg ARNIG

| WITH HEX IN HIS ARMS
II you give that little schoolma'am one
BIZ of trouble, I'll thrash every one
of you till you can't crawl homer
There was difference of opinion un-
Ill Seth had picked each up separately.
shaken most of the deviltry out of him
and then driven him head first into a
gnowdrift That settled the question
of mutiny. Later on. when be had
worked up the courage to call on the
new teacher. she was lying down with
headache and asked to be excused.
Two weeks later, when be called
again. she happened to be out. Seth
did not try again. He got the idea
| that she didn't care to see him. and.
though willing to acknowledge to him
self that he was homeiy. angular and
awkward. it hurt him that she should
think so. She must think so. of course.
US she was always ''at home" to other
young men. and they lost no Opportuni-
| ty of boasting of how f1atteringly they
were received.
Six weeks after school opened Seth
was driving past the schoolhouse one
day when the sounds of disturbance
reached his ears Joe Whitman had
| forgotten his shaking up and decided
to break loose. That meant carrying
Miss Baker outdoors and ducking her
in snowdrift. but there was a loose
wheel in the programme. He had just
started for the door with her In his
arms when Seth Thomas walked In.
Presto. It was Joe who found the
snowdrift.
The schoolma' am would have taken
Seth by the hand and thanked him, but
when he had concluded the perform
ance he drove away without a look to-
ward the schoolhouse Then the girls
intuition told her that the awkward
Seth was ali adlnirer who felt himself
snubbed. and for the next four weeks
she hoped be might call on her or that
they might meet elsewhere and have
an expla nation He avoided her. how
ever though. If be. had but known 1t.
she gave more thought to him than to
all the others.
There was always a midwlnter spell
ing school at the Corners. Teacher
/ and pupils Of other schools were inyit;
ed, and the victor of the contest wat
regarded as the smartest thing on
earth. at the spelling school the yeal
before the championship had been
wrested from No. by No. 6, and the
schoolmaster of the latter district had
his salary raised So per month. Thu
Fact invested the coming contest with
more than usual excitement
A day or two before the contest Miss
Baker learned that Seth lived just over
the line in district No 6. He would
therefore be an opponent, and, no mat
ter how deficient he was In other
branches, he was accounted d prodigy
in photography.
"He feels that have snubbed him,
and he is now going to have revenge on
me- wish he only knew how sorry |
am"
The schoolhouse was damned with
teachers. pupils and parents, and all
recognized the fact that ii was No. 3
versus No. 6. The teacher of No was
a young man. but he was there to win
If he could. and so were his best spell
ers. Queerly enough. it came about
that Miss Baker and Seth Thomas
headed the opposition lists. and they
were opposite each other as Squire
Jameson took the spelling book and
gave out the first word. Things went
easy at first. but when he came to tho
four syllable words the ranks began to
thin. Fifteen minutes later there were
only FIVE on a side. Ten minutes m IRE
and only six in all were standing, four
of whom were No. 6's. Then the word
separate knocked down two of the
latter. and the contest went on for q
few minutes with two on a side. Then
came the word 'impecuniosity." and
Miss Baker and Seth Thomas were