Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1908-01-09
- The -
Schoolmaster
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
By HERMAN LEWIS.
1907 by E. c. Parcels

doubt that his nlneteen-year-old daugh-
ter was the best looking and best edu-
| Gated girl for five miles around. Ia
| ore way that was saying much. for the
other farmers were poor and the other
girls rather plain and uneducated. but
in another way 1t amounted to very
| little TO an outsider The schoolmaster
was an outsider He had come from
a distance of fifty miles to teach the
winter term at the Corners. lie was
young man of twenty three, slim and
pale faced and the big boys" who
were TO attend the term smiled and
chuckled at sight of him. There were
half 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 Ii 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 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 did
not require and had never had an edu-
Gated mau
The pupils were a rough and igno-
rant lot attending when they pleased
| and doing about rs they pleased.
Sometimes the farmers sons Of eight
cen. strong as horses and rough as
bears had broken up the school after
four weeks: sometimes they had let 1t
| continue on until spring. Sometimes
the big girls had rushed the master
| and rolled him in il snowdrift and shat
tered his dignity. and sometimes they
had been content 10 turn the school
| room into sewing bee and laugh at
him as he protested.
And now they were going TO try
new teacher, aud Jennie Watkins had
plans TO make him trouble from the
very start she had no particular dis
| like. but she wanted to sec him taken
down peg-several pegs lie had too
much ossurance-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 ut all, when
she knew as well as could be that it
| AtI,
| thing then. but she saved it up for
some future time She had always
spelled the word "dissipated" with one
IS" but he went right at it and spelled
it with two, and even produced a spell
| ing book to show that he was right.
| She had always answered that the
Rocky mountains were in Kansas, and
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 condescending a
little to her father, and he wasn't pay
ing half enough attention to her.
Mr.. Crane secured board at the house
of a farmers widow and opened his
school. He announced that it was to
begin at 8 a. IN. Heretofore it had be-
gun at almost any hour to suit the
scholars He made this announcement
without consulting Farmer Watkins
and without Farmer Watkins consult
| ing his daughter. This was another
sign of 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. Some of the benches were broken,
and he asked that they be repaired.
There We're some panes of glass need
ed in the windows, a lock on the door
and new tin water pail. and before
school actually opened the teacher was
being looked upon as a living curiosity.
He had gone through the neighbor-
| hood and made a 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 gentlemanly,
unembarrasSed and ready talker, 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 ne was GER
tain 10 see it and criticised her rhymes
and the spelling Of three or four differ
ent words. He did worse He sug-
gested that she attend school. and fail.
| Ing In that, he would assist her of an
| evening now and then The girl re-
strained herself from killing bin on
the spot. but she said to herself that
| his career would be brief and full OF
| tribulation. She went TO her father
for sympathy, but after she had stated
her case her surprise was unbounded
to hear him reply
We'll, mebbe you do make a mistake
here and there This eddecation Is such
a tangled Up thing that can't see how
anybody ever spells cat twice alike.
! guess that young Teller sorter knows
what he's about"
The custom IN district schools all
over America is to give a new mas.
far n x4-aa