The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-05-20
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taught by burgher if you like, but
not me-"
won't your father lick you, wat?"
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 schoolmastsr who
was to take the place temporarily of
| the regular teacher who had broken
his leg. Wat shifted impudently and
would have walked past, but Jan de
JouGh put out hand to stop him-put
1t out with dittidence, hesitatinglv, al.
most as an inferior might do.
ut is time for school, Master
Thoms," said he.
Il am not going to school today"
"And tomorrow"
mot tomorrow"
MAY know why?"
Wat looked to one side and another,
rather abashed, 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 cheeks. The
schoolmaster looked after him for a
second and then slowly proceeded to
open the school,
This happened in Natal, where are
many men of different races-English,
Dutch descendants, Portuguese, Ma
lays descendants of the coolies
brought in old times from the East In
dies as plantation workers, and KAT
firs. So there are many social ranks
and grades. Wat was an English boy,
| brought out to the colony when a 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
olG, had a 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 ana Portuguese ancestors, who
long, long ago had owned the country
before the Englishmen took it as the
spoil of war just as America today
| has 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 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. We're impudent 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 a cove
which he and his chums knew we'll as
Il swimming place where the surf did
not break too violently he naturally
came to the conclusion that a bath
would be good thing to break the
lonely monotony of the morning He
was, like most boys in warm countries,
q 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 a 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, dived beneath it's crest,
swan vigorously under water for 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 on 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 greenery, 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
p1'ecipitous mountains.
"Poof-oof-ow!" cried the boy. "This
| is better than stuffy schoolroom, with
a low burgher making you study the
idiotic history of the country. He had
cheek to think he could teach Eng
ish 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 it's 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
twelve-year-old youngster could be SO
much at ease on the breast of the faith
omless ocean. Wat struck out to deep.
err water with a bold, swift side stroke
and soon was standing, monarch of all
he surveyed, on a great black rock
which broke the force of the waves as
they strove to dash, with headlong
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