The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-27
THE EVENING STORY
Some Moral suasion.
(By Lawrence Alfred Clay.)

town The Cedar Hill school for boys
was situated one mile west of the
town. That was right and proper.
Boys and girls should always be kept
exactly two miles apart while being
educated. Afterwards the distance can
be reduced to a mile.
Miss Britt, the principal of the sem
mary, was a very severe woman OF
forty. She had to be severe to main
tain her dignity. If she hadn't been
severe the young ladies under her
charge would have formed in ranks Of
four and marched into the town and
cleaned out every saloon and pulled
down the spire of every church.
Miss Louisa BarStow was Miss
Britt's assistant. She was p years
old, and she was also severe. She had
to be. When engaged for the position
she was told that she must never smile
One smile and her authority would be
lost and she would have to go. She
was an orphan, without near relatives,
and she knew better than to smile.
Mr.. Gredd of the boys school, was
fifty years old. He was very severe
man. He began to be severe when he
was a baby, and had kept it right up.
His idea of a boys school was not so
much education as severity. He called
it discipline, but when boy receives
forty backwards for indulging in a
game of leap-frog, or cutting of an
others cap, he is apt to call it another
name.
Mr.. clifford Clinton wac Mr.. Gredd's
assistant. He was also severe. He had
to be.
There was communication between
the two temples of learning, but for
principals and assistants only. They
consulted on the matter of school
books, expenses, and so forth, and it
was all very formal. Sometimes Mr..
Clinton was sent to consult. 1t was on
one of these occasions that he met Miss
Barstow. During the ensuing year he
met her several times more. In fact,
Mr.. Clinton called two or three times
when he had no business errand, but
this fact did not reach the ears of
either principal.
Mr.. Gredd was the owner of an auto.
1t was not bought for pleasure, but to
enhance his dignity in the school and
in the town It was looked upon as
sacred thing. Even the chauffeur who
ran it came IN for a certain amount OF
veneration. That is, he could cuff any
of the pupils without fear of a COM
plant being made against him.
Thus all things were working along
severe but peaceful lines, and parents
were being informed at regular inter-
walls of the happy progress being made
by their offspring, when an event hap
pened that shook the United States
from center to circumference. Swiftly
following the first event came sec
ond that shook green apples off the
trees as far east as Japan.
Mr.. Gredd received a telephone mes
sage from the seminary that one Of
the young ladies was missing, and that
climbed a ten-foot wall had been To-
Gated. At about the same moment he
was informed that one of his own pu
pills was missing, and that he had been
traced to a livery stable in the town.
It did not take him over an hour to
put things together. An elopement
had taken place and unless the clippers
could be overhauled and brought quiet
ly back the two temples of learning
must fall. He rushed for a confer
ence with Miss Britt. She thought as
he did. Then Miss Barstow and Mr..
Clinton were called in for more con-
ference. They thought so, too.
The elopement had taken place just
at dusk and the clippers had gone in a
carriage. They had an hours start.
What was easier than for Mr.. Clinton
and Miss Barstow to follow on in the
auto and overtake them ard halt them
in their hilarious career They could
not be brought back in chains, owing
to public gossip, but moral suasion
would do the trick Mr.. Clinton could
moral suasion the young man, and
Miss Barstow could moral suasion the
young lady, and the return would be
quietly made and all particulars sup
pressed.
Severity Of discipline relaxed before
the fear of loss of cash, and the two
assistants were bundled into the auto
and sent in pursuit. They had no cleW
as to the route taken by the clippers
and therefore wasted three hours be-
fore they struck the right trail. The
time did not pass unpleasantly, how
ever. One may be very severe in
school and not at all severe when roll
ing over q smooth highway in an auto.
There were times when the pursuers
oI ncfF Of xar-
clippers.
Yes, young Creighton. nineteen years
old, and Miss Til1a Dawson, a year
younger, had fed together. They had
met and loved and correspondent and
planned in spite of discipline and argus
eyes. They would get married and re-
turn and keep things quiet for two or
three years. A quiet marriage before a
justice of the peace would be the thing.
Young Creighton had got the nam es of
three. Had the first one been at home
when the clippers drove up all would
have been well, but he wasn't. He was
away buying hogs. The second one
was home. but he was a nervous, timid
man. He had never married a couple,
and didn't have a printed form to go
by. Besides that, he had 70 clean shirt
to put on, and he vowed that no mar
riage he could perform in an old
hickory would hold good. They must
drive on to Justice Days.
Tt was at Justice Days that the elop-
ers were overtaken. It was II o'clock
at night, and they had just driven up
to the gate. The justice and his fam
lily had gone to bed and must be awak-
ened or the elopement would be a fall
ure. Mr. Clinton looked for scram-
bic and wild flight. Miss Barstow
looked for tears and promises. Nothing
of the kind happened. The clippers even
stepped forward to shake hands They
said it was fine evening. They said
they had had delightful ride. They
expressed their agreeable surprise at
seeing the assistants.
Mr.. Clinton took the young man aside
to say to him:
Look here. young man. do you know
what sort of a scrape you have got
yourself into?s'
NO scrape at all professor" was the