Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1910-07-29
The SChOOIma' 2m

ness Of the undertaking. Ia the iirst
place. ON account OF her extro ne
youth. she was looked upon with dis
favor by the village gossips, who oren-
ly declared that she would not have
the school a week, and in the second
place, the reputation Of the var Gus
lads and lassies of Hampstead as n
corrigible mischief makers was
enough to daunt even an experien ed
sehoolma'Rm.
The youngsters themselves were in
high glee. and looked forward With
anticipation TO what they termed he
breakin' in" of the new teacher.
Course" said one young hopeful.
commonly known as Red" Maria,
"She can't never expect Us to III. nd
her Just the same as we did Old er-
lzins"- referring to previous school
master-"shes only girl, and my ma
says a young and fiighty one at that"
"Yes. sheu have to be learned that
we amt goin' to stand no nonsense"
said his bosom friend. Jake Reid, and
the sooner we, let her know our scnti-
ments the better"
The first few days of school passed
pleasantly enough for Ruth. Ii she
noted the rebellion In Tommy S,mp-
kin's face when she quietly confiscat-
ed the huge picked lime he was con.
suming. she made no comment, and
she pretended not to notice when she
caught Jake Reid making faces at her.
She was determined to conquer these
| turbulent young spirits. and thus
render false the predictions, not only
OF the village gossips, but of Joe Ham
ilton. a wealthy young farmer, who
was greatly in love with her. Joe.
however. was much given to teasing.
and had made so much fun OF the ''1u.
| ture schoolma'am" that she had left
| MIN In a rage, vowiAg never to speak
to him again. Joe was heartbro en-,
| but wi;hal determined to make her
take back her words.
On the fourth day OF school L ere
was great excitement among the class
at recess Jake Reid. the leader OF sac
| school. had been caught tying Ma =.
| WatsOn's apron strings to her char,
much to the little girls annoyan"e.
and when reprimaDded by Miss Man
ton, had paid no attention. Ruth vo.u.
pletely lost her temper, and catching
up switch. she fiogged the boy before
the whole school
Something must be done" said
Jared Slocum, determinedly, shes
getting too fresh"
Lets give her a good scare" rug
gested Jake Reid, something in the
mouse line would do; all girls are
scared to death of mice" A whispered
consultation was then held. and the
time set for giving Ruth her scare"
When the fatal day arrived. RuJh.
all unconscious OF the calamity in
store for her, went about her duties
as usual, 1t seemed as II her task Of
| controlling the class was harder than
usual to-day. and her patience was
sorely tried. She caught Tom Allen
drawing caricatures OF her on his
slate, and promptly stood him IN the
corner. Red" Martin pulled Betty
Hopkins curls until the little girl
howled for mercy and another mis-
chievous youth was caught reading q
paper-covered book under his geo
graphy.
Timothy Reilly" said the now
thoroughly exasperated teacher, you
will. please. bring me that book. Jacob
Reid. what are you doing?"
THROWN spitballs. ma'am," -
swered Jake. giving a demons
OF his ability in that line by le'
Tim have two right behind the
There was an audible litter fro.e
class.
Jacob, stand in the corner "
your face to the wall. John Mead sc
cutting your initials in that desk. ar,
Maria Stebbins, you may throw tha.
gum in the waste basket. First class
in arithmetic stand up"
At last, the crucial moment hfd az
rived. The arithmetic class filed Ito
the back of the room. while Ruth
walked to her desk to get her arith-
metic. A half-suppressed muTmuT ran
through the class as she did sos The
arithmetic was kept in the lower right
hand drawer OF her desk. and there
was not a child but knew what world
happen when Ruth opened that draw
er. The teacher, however, uncon-
scious OF impending danger jerked
open the drawer; there was a rustic oi
paper a tiny squeak. and then a shrill
scream, and Ruth fell. fainting. to the
floor as a dark gray object sprsng
first into her lap, and then ran nimbly
up to her shoulder.
Poor Ruth When she finally came
back to consciousness. she found her
self in the arms of Joe Hamilton. who
as he afterwards explained to her, had
happened to be passing the school and
heard her scream: and the class was
gathered around the platform with
white. frightened faces. "Oh. Joe.
she cried, completely forgetting heI
recent resolution never TO speak
to him again. Il feel so ashamed
to think a little mouse could scare
me Ike that. but really was frighten
ed. Those horrid boys. how did thaN
dare TO do such a thingf Ugh" che
said. Struggling her pretty shoulder
in disgust "I'll never teach a distic
school again"
And Joe. delighted at the pros, e.
OF a reconciliation with her. genero
ly refrained from twitting her al"
her failure: but Jake Reid, disgr-
Leyond measure. was heard to
contemptuously, Huh. | allus y,
she was a soft un. o. MISS G
TRUDE DUNN.
Neon ard tie aurora.
Hv means Of ku..uuluE-baS iuna.