The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-11-16
A Cowboys Funeral.

little adobe schoolhouse fenced IN
from the surrounding ranges with barbed
WIRE wide eXpanse Of semi arid land
with small areas under cultivation, and
large herds OF cattle roaming over extend.
ed tracts OF nearly sterile country-this
was the picture outside. Within was a
little Massachusetts schooteacher. mot
bigger than pint OF cider" as her ad.
mlrers in the neighborhood said beginning
missionary school with half dozen pu'
pills.
There was need of work. There was no
place OF worship, and there had been no
school until the opening OF the little mis-.
sion, and the coming OF the little woman
from Massachusetts.
Slowly the school grew, and gradually
other pupils entered than the very little
ones who had constituted the first half
dozen. But there was wide disparity be.
tween the age of the oldest pupil and that
OF the one who arrived one morning after
the school had been in operation about
month. He was tall young man, with
spurs, larat and sombrero. and he sat his
Indian pony as ii he had been a centaur.
Fastening his horse to the barbed wire
fence he came inside without knocking,
and took his seat without removing his hat.
Would you like to become member OF
the school?' asked Miss Selby.
We'll; don't know said he. "Ill see
how / like it,"
His inves. cation continued that day and
the next. He took no part in the school
beyond the occasional throwing of paper
wads. This disconnected the school a lit.
tie at first, but later attracted no atten.
tlon, for the teacher herself disregarded il.
and found means to suggest quietly to the
younger children that they show theii
visitor a model school. When the school
was dismissed at the close of the second
day he approached the teacher with his
sombrero in hand and said:
81 know | hain't behaved decent. |
bain't been TO school since | was a little
shaver, and don't know how to act, but
know better'n I've done, and ii you'll for
give me I'll settle down to study. I'd like
to come and learn"
The teacher had been waiting for this
capitulation, and she improved the oppor.
tunity by. telling him what obligations he
must assume in the way OF conduct ii he
became member OF the school, and by
this time he was ready to promise any.
thing
With great diligence he applied himself
to his books, and with even greater ardor
to the reading of the papers and magazines
/ which friends in the East were sending to
| the teacher.
The little schoolteacher also had Sun.
! day-school, and although at first the COW.
boy pupil thought little of this institution,
| he attended that he might assist the teach
| er in the arrangement OF the seats. He
soon became a most attentive pupil, and
| before long an earnest seeker after bet
ter life.
So matters went on for more than year
and the second winter came, the severest
known in the settlement. Cattle perished
on the prairie. The horses which the
children rode to school shivered in the
frail sheds in the rear OF the building, and
in one terrible blizzard these very sheds
had TO be torn down and burned, since
other fuel was lacking. a week the biz.
zard lasted, and when it was over the COW.
boy pupil did not reappear in school. He
was sick with pneumonia, and in few
days he died.
There was no minister within twenty-five
miles, and no Christian funeral had ever
been held in the settlement, but the whole
community deemed it unbecoming that
Jack should be buried without a religious
service. So they brought his body three
miles across the plains to the i. tie school.
house, and the frail young teacher stood
before the open coffin and read, II am the
resurrection and the life" Then she
closed her Bible and spoke to the people
who had gathered. What she said she
never could remember. At first it had
seemed impossible that she should say
anything, but the blood of Puritan ances.
tors that had never quailed at duty rose
within her. and she stood between the
living and the dead, and spoke OF the
change that had taken place in Jack since
first he gained the love of learning, and
then the love of God.
The little schoolteacher's health broke
down soon afterward, and she returned to
| her Massachusetts, home, but the school
had grown and two teachers came to take
her place. Many were the traditions which
these gathered of their predecessor in the
work, but of all her good influences, that
most frequently referred to was the ear
nest word and prayer OF the little school
teacher at the grave OF her cowboy pupil
/ Youths Companion.