The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-19
WITH TESSA AS PROXY.
By Jerome Sprague.


 'Tessa,! said Miss Marion, with de- cision. you are not making that bed properly"
 Tessa, tucking in the sheet Of tho dolls bed, raised limpid. inauiring eyes. T told you I wanted hospital cor ners."
 Tessa wavered. curled a small red lip and overhowed. .. Don't cry: oh. Tessa. don't cry. Miss Marion expostulated. as the small pink aproned atom flung herself at full length on the floor.
 Tessa did not move.
 Well, I shall have to let Mary Brannigan do 1t. said Miss Marion.
 Mary Brannigan and Tessa Votoldl being sworn rivals in the affections or the settlement teacher. tne small 1tal- ian raised a calculating eye. Mary. every red curl bobbing. every freckle radiant, already had hold of one cor ner of the infinitesimal sheet.
 Then Mary pulled and Tessa pulled.
 Perhaps you'd better let Tessa fn- ish 1t, Mary" said the teacher weakly.
 Mary blazed wrathfully. "Aw. she don know howl"
 "Oh, we'll" Miss Marion sighed. see If you can make 1t. Mary. Tessa can watch you. and tell you if you don't do 1t properly"
 Tessa, sobbing a soft accompaniment to MaryIs bedmaking, sQuealed sudden ly:
 She's gotta the hem out-a side"
 "Oh. Mary" said Miss Marion. re- proachfully. T thought you could do
 An can." said Mary. but won't" and straightway. like a small fury, she tore the bed to pieces, and flung the mattress on the floor.
 The twenty small girls of the Little Housekeepers' Class looked at the teacher with expectant eyes.
 'Oh. Mary" Quavered Miss Mason. She felt unequal to discipline: It was very hot and the room was close. and the children had been restless and fus- sy all the morning.
 "Oh. Mary" she Quavered again. As a young man in & panama hat and round clerical collar poked his head in at the window.
 Cant you and the little girls come ever and have lunch with my boys in the parish office?" he asked.
 sigh of blissful anticipation issued from twenty throats.
 They have been so naughty" Miss Mason hesitated. T don't know wheth- CT I should let them"
 Twenty pairs of eyes reproached her. and the young rector said: No one ought to be naughty on such day"
 Well. If you will promise to be very good" Miss Marion finally decided; and. like lion and lamb. Tessa and Mary led a decorus procession.
 The young rector's class in wood carving were having sandwiches and cake and lemonade provided by the ladies of the parish There was a big pitcher of the lemonade. and the ice ttnkled deliciously as the biggest boy filled twenty glasses for the twenty little girls.
 The young rector. beaming with en- thusiam. sat rown beside the little settlement teacher. It's lovely work. Miss Mason" he said.
 Marion shook her head. "Oh, no. 1t isn't ne said; its horrid. They are so ungrateful. wish I was out on a hotel porch, in my best linen frock. with my hair marcelled. and with the waves beating a soothing accompani- ment to the conversation of some in- telligent masculine.
 With a twinkle in his eye. the young rector asked, Cant l masquerade as an intelligent masculine?"
 Oh" Miss -,Aason conceded, you might But I'm not dressed for the part. Shirt waist and serge skirts and tan shoes, and dusty ones at that she poked out a small foot in a shabby shoe-'are not the attire for attrac tivness. We planted vegetables in the school garden all the mornfng-beans and things-until we were grubby."
 T don't believe you would be really happy on that hotel porch, asserted the young rector. as he sat on the edge of his desk, and looked down at her.
 T should! 1 want to be care-free and frivolous--and to forget the problems ha ocA nh people. I want to go where every one is clean and the air is pure-and where l can breathe" as she caught her breath sharply he bent over her with a sudden tender light in his eyes.
 Poor little woman!" he murmureJ. .
 Don't pity me- Miss Mason said, with flaming cheeks, but I do like pretty things. Why. I am a different creature in my pink dimity. You've never seen me in it, have you?'
 He smiled down at her indulgently. "No," he said slowly. but I saw you once in an old white linen that had been torn and trampled, and you held in your arms. little child that you had saved-and you were beauti ful-"
 "Oh. that was Tessa," Miss Mason said quickly, the morning the fire en-
  der we weren't both killed.'
 T saw you for the first time-and knew then that I had found what had been looking for all my life"
 Her startled eyes ;cad the meaning in his. "Oh, no, mo-" she protested. T am not good enough. 1 am vain and frivolous-and I long for the flesh pots"
 He went on steadily. T have seen you since then. every day. teaching your little girls to be tidy and sweet and good, and I have wondered at your bravery-when you might be in lux ury-cool and comfortable."
 50 might you" she heminded him, How many men of your talent and influences would have chosen down town church?"
 ''Oh. that" he put it away lightly. II like 1t. and I am a man-but not many women would do it,'
 Don't" she said tremulously; don't praise me-" and she rose and went to her. sobbing.
 ''Oh, Tessa, Crying again?"
 It was discovered after some ques- tioning that Tessas conscience was hurting her. She was sorry, she whis- pered. that she had been bad in the morning. She did love her teacher, and at the end of the confession her arm went around Miss Mason's neck.
 Poor babyt2 Miss Mason crooned as