Middletown transcript., 1918-05-18
of-the-way district in the interior Of

of-the-way district in the interior of
the province.
Nov; that" Hazel thought.
She had second-class Certificate
tucked away among her belongings.
Originally it had been her intention TO
teach, and she had done so one term
in a backwoOds school when she was
eighteen. With the ending of the term
she had returned to Granville, studied
that winter, and got her second GER
tificate; but at the same time she had
taken business-college course. and
the following June found her clack-
ing a typewriter at nine dollars a
week. And her teachers diploma had
remained in the bottom of her trunk
ever since.
Unaccountably, since Kitty Brooks
visit, she found herself itching to turn
her back on Granville and its unpleas-
ant associations. She did not attempt
to analyze the feeling. Strange lands,
and most of all, the West. held alluring
promise. One thing was certain
Granville, for all she had been born
there, and grown to womanhOOd there.
was now no place for her. The very
people who knew her best would make
her suffer most.
She spent that evening going thor
oughly over the papers and writing
letters to various school boards, taking
chance at one or two she found in
the Manitoba paper, but centering her
hopes on the country west of the
Rockies. Her savings in the bank
amounted to three hundred odd dol
lars, and cash in hand brought the
sum to total of three hundred and
sixty-five. At any rate. she had suffi-
cient to insure her living for quite
long time. And she went to bed
feeling better than she had felt for
two weeks.
Very shortly Observation-Disclosures, it
seemed, by return mail-Hazel got re-
plies to her letters of inquiry. The
fact that each and every one seemed
bent on securing her services aston
ished her.
But the reply from Cariboo Mead
ows, B. c., the first place she had
thought of, decided her. The member
Of the school board who replied held
forth the natural beauty of the coun-
try as much as he did the advantages
of the position. The thing that per-
haps made the strongest appeal to Ha-
~ lyn6oE Yorint inn0nC06
in the letter. showing the schoolhouse.
The building itself was primitive
enough, of logs, with pole-and-sod
roof. But it was the huge back
ground, the timbered mountains rising
to snowclad heights against cloud
less sky, that attracted her.
She sat for n long time looking at
the picture. thinking. Here was the
concrete, visible presentment Of some
thing that drew her strongly. She
found an atlas. and looked up Carl
boo Meadows on the map. It was not
to be found, and Hazel judged it to be
purely local name. But the letter
told her that she would have to stage
It hundred and sfxty-five miles Herth
from Ashcroft. B. c., where the writer
would meet her and drive her to the
Meadows.
"What a country" she whispered.
'Tt's wild; really, truly wild; and ev-
erything I've ever seen has been
tanned and smoothed down, and made
eminently respectable and conven-
tional long ago. That's the place.
That's where I'm going, and I'm going
it blind. I'm not going to tell any
one-not even Kitty-until, like a
bear, I've gone over the mountain to
see what l can see."
Within an hour of that Miss Hazel
Weir had written to accept the terms
offered by the CaribOo Meadows school
district, and was busily packing her
trunk.