The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-06-15
delight Of life, but they filled him with
a deep regret of his ignorance.
CHAPTER XVII.

They were month getting
ready for the school "exhibi-
tion." Every home In the valley and
up Cedar hill rang with loud declama-
tions. The impassioned utterances of
James Otis, Daniel Webster and Pat
rick Henry were heard in house and
field and stable. Every evening wom-
EN- were busy making costumes for a
play, while the young rehearsed their
parts. Polly Vaughn editor Of paper
to be read that evening, searched the
countryside for literary talent. She
found a young married woman who
had spent n year in the State Normal
school and who put her learning at the
service of Polly in composition treat
ing the subject of intemperance. Miss
Betsey Leech sent in what she called
ga piece" entitled Home" Polly her
self wrote an editorial on sour Teach
err" and there was hemming and haw-
ing when she read it, declaring they
all had learned much, even to love
him. Her mother helped her with the
alphabetical rhymes, each a couplet of
sentimental history, as, for example:
A Is for Alison, a jolly young man;
He'll marry Miss Betsey. they say. IL he
can.
They trimmed the little schoolhouse
with evergreen and erected a small
stage where the teachers desk had
been. Sheets were hung for curtains
on ten foot rod.
A while after dark one could hear
sound of sleighbells in the distance.
Away on drifted pike and crossroad
the bells began to fling their music. 1t
seemed to come in ripping streams of
sound through the still air, each with
its own voice. In half an hour count
less echoes filed the space between
them and all were as one chorus, where
in, as 1t came near, one could distin-
guish song and laughter.
Young people from afar came in cut
tiers and by the sleigh load; those who
lived near, afoot with lanterns. They
were q merry company, crowding the
schoolhouse, laughing and whispering
as they waited for the FIST exhibit.
Trove called them to order and made
q few remarks.
Remember" said he, 'this is not
our exhibition. 1t is only sort Of
preparation for one we have planned.
In about twenty years the Linley school
is to give an exhibition worth seeing.
1t will be, / believe, an exhibition of
happiness, ability and success on the
great stage Of the world. %LHn l hope
to have on the programme speeches in
congress, in the pulpit and at the bar.
You shall see in that play, If l mistake
not, homes full of love and honor, men
and women of fair fame. 1t may be
you shall see, then, some whose names
are known and honored of all men,"
Each performer quaked with fear,
and both sympathy and approval were
in the applause. Miss Polly Vaughn
was n rare picture of rustic beauty,
her cheeks as red as her ribbons, her
voice low and sweet. Trove came out
in the audience for a look at her as
she read. Ringing salvos of laughter
greeted the play and stirred the sleigh
bells on the startled horses beyond the
door. The programme over, somebody
called for Squire Town, a local petit
logger, who flung his soul and body in
to every cause. He often sored his
knuckles on the court table and racked
his frame with the violence of his rhet-
oric. He had stock of impassioned
remarks ready for all occasions.
He rose, walked to the center of the
stage, looked sternly at the people and
addressed them as fellow citizens"
He belabored the small table; he rose
on tiptoe and fell upon his heels; often
he seemed to fling his words with
rapid jerk Of his right arm as one
hurls a pebble. 1t was all in praise of
his young friend" the teacher, and
the high talent Of Linley school.
The exhibition ended with this rare
exhibit of eloquence. Trove announced
the organization of singing school for
Monday evening of the next week, and
then suppressed emotion burst into
noise. The Linley schoolhouse had be-
come as a fount Of merry sound in the
still night; then the loud chorus of the
bells, diminishing as they went away
and breaking into streams of music
and dying faint In the far woodland.
One Nelson Cartright-a jack of all
trades they called him-was the singing
master. He was noted far and wide
for song and penmanship. Every year
his intricate flourishes in black and
white were on exhibition at the county
fair
"Waal, sir" men used to say thought
fully, Eye wouldn't think he knew
beans. Why, he's got fist bigger'n a
ham. But tell We, let him take pen,
sir, and he'll draw deer so nat'ral, sir,
ye'd swear he could jump over q six
rail fence. Why, it is wonderful"
Every winter he taught the arts of
song and penmanship in the four dis
tricts from Jericho to Cedar hill. He
sang q roaring bass and beat the time
with dignity and precision. For weeks
he drilled the class on bit of lyric
melody, of which a passage Is here
given.
"One, two, three, ready, sing" he
would say, his ruler cutting the air,
and all began:
Listen to the bird and the maid and the
humblebee,
Ira, la la la la, ira, la la Ia la
Joyfully we'll sing the gladstone melody,
Ira, la la la la.
,t,,- - I,.,