The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-03-26

out his advantage, and the result is
easily seen. What boy stops to ques-
ton whether his reign comes by the
gift of his fellows or by force of arms?
He simply carries things with high
hand, and if he proves good ruler and
a good fellow, after all, he may even
come to keep his rule by common con-
sent. Such things, however, happen
rarely.
Cloverly Village had been shoulder
ing for some time. An orphan is bad
enough in being just that, but when
he has sleek light hair and meek blue
eyes and is kept we'll brushed and sup
piled with apples by the deacon's wife,
whom he has come to live with, he
adds a drop or two more of bitterness
to the boys cup of dislike. And when
he shows himself capable of eating one
apple with another in his hand in the
midst Of hungry crowd, and kicks
little Johnnie Black for trying to get
a bite, it is time to interfere. And
when his face comes to be notorious for
the many shapes it can assume in con-
tempt of his subjects, it seems to be
necessary to do something to change
the expression of that face When a
boy has all these elements in due pro.
portions mixed up in him, then is he
an orphan indeed
Jack in the midst of all this had rath-
ion thu no hayr
on despising him in silence-the spir-
it Of his fathers being strong within
him to keep his hand from against
the tormentor But on Tuesday after.
noon-a particularly unfortunate day
for Jack, and the time of his humilia-
ton by that incidental and temporal
authority, the teacher-he had CHANGED
to see, by the aid of the little looking
glass which enabled him to see Mira
bel Gray without looking around, the
same tickle damsel accepting with
thanks the gift of a new slate-pencil
topped with the half of chunk of
candy. The other half had been care
fully bitten off and the rest presented
~ LIZ AclnQ vi TIC AGW OOy willie
Perkins That put new light on
things, and few minutes later he saw
the new boy throw a paper ball at the
smallest boy in the room Jacks soul
rose in righteous indignation against
such tyranny. 1t should not go on.
After some deliberation, in which he
reflected bitterly that the teachers de-
cree that he. must stay in after school"
would prevent a speedy reckoning, he
wrote a note saying:
will you pleas mete me on the other
side of the church tomorrow at recess?
Yours truly,
JACK GRESHAM.
"P. S. 1t is fight"
Choose your weapons" looked we'll
on the paper, but he reflected that
some newly imported ideas of the new
conner might made the thing too liter
al, and he wanted to use his fists. With
some difficulty under the teachers eyes
he started the note on it's backward
course and waited for reply. There
was no formal one, but an astonished
nod from the challenged one was salts
factory, and in five minutes the news
had buEzed over the room that Jack
Gresham was ''goin' to lick the Or
phan." There was some rejoicing
among the smaller boys, but the older
and conservative ones were oppressed
by secret doubts. Their looks of adj
miration were genuine, but were tenn
pered by hopeless shakings of the head
which implied that there was no UNI
qualified sanction Of the one who had
thus defied the superstition.
The morning of the fight wore on
slowly, and everybody watched the
clock, Only to Jack, however it seemed
to tick faster than usual, and he tried
to stay II by following the course OF
the Yeng-tsc- Kiang river as laborious-
by as if he wished it never to end. But
the geography lesson, like most inter
esting things, ende& ell too soon, and
the gong in the hall sounded for re
cess" Everybody filed out and tae
boys, more silent than usual at such
exciting times, made their way in lit.
tie Groups to the scene of interest. The
school yard was large, but, the custom
of the place being to let the childrcn
range as they liked over the neighbor.
hood at recess, the boys, naturally