Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-11-06
- The -
Schoolrnaster
Copyrighted. 1907. by E. C. PARCELS.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
By HERMAN LEWIS.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There was no doubt that Farmer
Watkins was the richest man at Rob
insons Corners. and there was nc
doubt that his nineteen year-old daugll
ter was the best looking and best edu
Gated girl for five miles around. In
one way that was saying much. for the
other farmers We're poor and the Other
girls rather plain and uneducated. but
in another way it amounted to very
little to an outsider. The schoolmasteI
was an outsider. He had come from
distance of fifty miles to teach the
winter term at the Corners He was
a young man Of twenty-three. slim and
pale faced. and the "big boys VIII
were to attend the term smiled and
chuckled at sight Of him. There were
half a dozen who '.reckoned" they
could stand him on his head If he got
too fresh.
1t was Farmer Watkins who engaged
the young man. He was president OF
the school board, and what he said
went. 1t was his daughter Jennie
who decided him In this. She was his
only child. and he was a widower. and
what she said also went. There were
also a dozen other applicants. and she
threw her influence for Walter Crane
for very curious reason. He was the
only one among the applicants who
had the manners Of gentleman and
the only one who appeared to her to
be her superior In education. The
school didn't require and had never
had gentleman for teacher. 1t die
not require and had never had an edu.
Gated man.
The pupils were rough and igno.
rant lot, attending when they pleased
and doing about as they pleased.
Sometimes the farmers sons of eight.
cen. strong as horses and rough as
bears. had broken up the school aftel
four weeks; sometimes they had let 1t
continue on until spring Sometimes
the "bfg girls" had rushed the master
and rolled him in a snowdrift and shat.
tered his dignity. and sometimes they
had been content to turn the school
him as he protested.
And now they were going to try a
new teacher. and Jennie Watkins had
plans to make him trouble from the
very start. She had no particular dis
like, but she wanted to see him taken
down a peg-several pegs. He had too
much aSSurance-too much confidence
in himself. Why. at the examination
of candidates at her fathers house.
when Mr.. Crane had been asked what
ocean surrounded Switzerland he had
smiled and replied none at all, when
she knew as well as could be that II
was the Atlantic She didn't say any
thing then. but she saved it up foi
some future time. She had always
spelled the word "dissipated' with one
''s.' but he went right at II and spelled
1t with two. and even produced a spell
ing book to show that he was right.
She had always answered that the
Rocky mountains We're in Kansas, ara
when ne moved them farther west her
cheeks got red and she put a rod in
pickle for him. That young man was
pretending that he knew altogether too
much. He was even condescendlng Il
little to her father, and he wasn't pay
ing half enough attention to her.
Mr.. Crane secured board at the house
of farmers widow and opened his
school. He announced that it was to
begin at a. N. Heretofore it had be
gun at almost any hour to suit the
~, I. .
without consulting Farmer Watkins
and without Farmer Watkins consult
ing his daughter. This was another
sign CT his independence.
He insisted on having dry instead of
green wood for the big box stove. and
he insisted on repairs to the stove to
carry the smoke away. There was no
blackboard. and he made and painted
one. aSome of the benches We're broken,
and he asked that they be repaired.
There were some panes of glass need
ed in the windows. a lock on the door
and a new tin water pail. and before
school actually opened the teacher vas
being looked upon as living curiosity.
He had gone through the neighbour
hood and made brief call at every
house to ascertain how many scholars
he would have and to form their ac'
quaintance in advance. His call did
not last longer at the Watkins house
than elsewhere. He was gentlem2nly.
unembarrassed and ready taiker and
Jennie had just begun to wonder If
she wouldn't like him after all when
he picked up some poetry she had been
writing and had left where he was GER
tain to see it and criticised her rhymes
and the spelling of three or four differ
ent words. He did worse. He suS-
gested that she attend school, and. fail
ing in that he would assist her of al
evening now and then. The girl re-
strained herself from killing him on
the spot. but she said to herself that
his career would be brief and full OF
tribulation. She went to her father
Tor sympathy. but after she had stated