The Greeley tribune., 1905-12-14

| ing in the moonlight the preceding
evening and presently emerged sup
| porting on his arm partially para-
| lyZed old man who might have been
Rip Van Wrinkle in the worst of tenn
pers. His white hair and beard encir-
cled shriveled. hawklike face: the
mouth was sucked back in a toothless
eddy that brought tip of nose and tip
of chin into whispering distance; the
eyes glittered from behind the over
hanging. ragged brows like those of
hungry animal searching through the
brush for its prey.
"If you've done eatin'." whispered
Mrs. Yellett to Miss Carmichael, you'd
better run on. Paws langwidge is sim
ply awful when we forget to bring him
to meals" Mary ran on.
When. after the lapse of some thirty
minutes or so the stentorian voice OF
Mrs. Yellett recalled Mary to camp she
found that the tin breakfast service
had been washed and returned to the
mess box, and the beds had been neatly
all pile! IN one Of the wagons
| .@ct. The extremely simple tent-hold.
10 coin IL word, was in absolute order.
1t was just 6 a. m, and Mrs. Yellett
thought it high time to begin school.
| Mary tried to convey to her that the
hour was somewhat unusual, but she
seemed to think that for pupils who
were beginning their tasks compare
lively late in life it would be impOssi-
BILE to start sufficiently early in the
morning. So at this young and tender
hour. with many misgivings, Mary set
about preparing her al fresco class
room.
She chose nice, fiat little piece of
the United States. situated in the shade
of the clump of willows that bordered
a trickling creek not far from her
! sylvan bathroom Of the early morning.
How she was to sit on the ground
all day and yet preserve properly
pedagogical demeanor was the first
question to be settled. That there was
nothing even remotely resembling a
chair in camp she felt reasonably as
sured, as paw was sitting on an in
I erted soap box under n pine tree, and
paw, by reason Of age and infirmity,
appropriated all luXuries. Mrs. Vel
| lett. with her usual acumen, grasped
the situation.
I'm figgerin'." she commented, that
there must be easier ways Of governin
than sittin' up like prairie dog while
you're at it."
Mrs Yellett took hurried survey of
the camp, lessening the distance be-
tween herself and one Of the light
wagons with gait in which grace was
entirely subservient to speed; then,
with one capacious wrench of the arms,
she loosened the spring seat from the
wagon and bore 1t to the goyerness
with an artless air Of triumph. 1t was
difficult, under these circumstances, TO
explain to Mrs. Yellett that without
that symbol Of scholastic authority. n
desk. the wagon seat was useless; new
ertheless Mary set forth with all her
eloouence the mission Of desk. Mrs.
Yellett was genuinely depressed. Had
she imported the magician without his
wand-Aladdin without his lamp! She
proposed a bewildering choice-an In
yerted washtub two buckets sustain
ing the relation Of caryatides to a
board, the sheet iron cooking stove. IN
an excess of solicitude she even sug
gested robbing paw Of his soap box.
Mary chose the washtub on condition
that Mrs. Yellett consented to sacrifice
the handles in the cause Of lower edu'
cation. She felt that an inverted tub
that was likely to seesaw during class
hours would tend rather to develop a
sense of humor in her pupils than to
contribute to her pedagogical dignity.
The camp. rs may already have been
Inferred, enjoyed matriarchal form
of government. Its feminine dictator
was no exception to the race Of auto
Gratis in that she was not nm absolute
stranger to the rosy byways OF seif
indulgence. There was strenuous
quality in her pleasuring perhaps not
inconsistent In one whose daily tasks
included sheep herding and ditch dig
ging, varied by irrigaung and Ahear1ns