The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1922-02-09

speech. Rude am In speech"
yes" the irritated teacher said. as
Ramsey's failing voice continued husk-
lily to insist upon this point. II think
you arel" And her nerves were lit
tie soothed by the shout of laughter
from the school-it was never difficult
for teachers to be witty. eco sit down,
Ramsey, and do 1t after school"
His ears roaring, the unfortunate
went to his seat and, among all the hi
larious faces. one stood out-Dora Yo-
Gums. Her laughter was precociOus:
! 1t was that Of confirmed superior. In
sufferably adult-she was laughing at
him as a grown person laughs at Q
child. Conspicpously and unmistaka-
bly,. there was something indulgent In
her amusement. He choked. He
didn't care for George Washington, or
Paul Revere. or the teacher. or the
President OF the United States, or
Shakespeare, or any of 'em. They
could all go to the dickens with Dora
Yocum. They were all lot Of smart
les anyway and he hated the whole
stew Of 'eml
There was one, however. whom he
somehow couldn't manage to hate,
even though this one officially seemed
to be as intimately associated with
Dora Yocum and superiority as the
others were. Ramsey couldn't hate
Abraham Lincoln, even when Dora
was chosen to deliver the Gettysburg
Address" on the twelfth of February.
Lincoln had said Government Of the
, people, by the people, for the people,"
and that didn't mean government by
| the teacher and the Teachers Pet and
Paul Revere and Shakespeare and
| suchlike; 1t meant government by
| everybody. and therefore Ramsey had
as much to do with II as anybody else
, had Beyond a doubt, Dora and the
| teacher thought Lincoln belonged to
| them and their crowd Of exclusives;
they seemed to think they owned the
whole United States; but Ramsey was
sure they were mistaken about Abra-
ham Lincoln.
He felt that II was just like this lit
| tie Yocum snippet to assume such
thing, and 1t made him sicker than
| ever to look at her.
Then, one day, he noticed that her
| eye-winkers were stickin' out farther
and farther.
| His discovery irritated him the
more. Next thing. this ole Teachers
Pet would do she'd get to thinkin' she
was pretty! If that happened, well,
| nobody could stand her. The long
! lashes made her eyes shadowy. and II
| was a fact that her shoulder blades
ceased to insist upon notoriety; you
couldn't tell where they were at all,
any more.
A contemplate thing happened.
| Wesley Bender was well known to be
the most untitdy boy In the class and
had never shown any remorse for his
reputation or made the slightest effort
| either to improve or to dispute 1t. He
was content: It failed to lower his
standing with his fellows or to i'm
press them unfavorably. In fact, he
was treated as one who has attained
slight distinction. II helped him to
become better known. and boys liked
! to be seen with him. But one day,
there was rearrangement Of the
seating In the schOolrOOm: Wesley
| Bender was given a desk next In front
! of Dora Yocum's; and within a week
the whole room knew that Wesley had
begun voluntarily to wash his neck
the back Of 1t. anyhow.
This was at the bottom OF the fight
between Ramsey Milholland and Wes
ley Bender, and the diplomatic ex-
changes Immediately preceding HOSTILE
ties were charmingly frank and I'M
hypocritical. although quite as mixed
up and 0ff-the-lssue as II they had
been prepared by professional foreign
Office men. Ramsey and Fred Mitchell
and four other boys waylald young
Bender on the street after school. In
| tending jocosities rather than violence,
/ but the victim proved sensitive. "You
take your ole hands of o. mew he
said fiercely. as they began to push
him about among them.
"Ole dirty Wes" they hoarsely bel
i iONtu anu Hquo"hNhs thth ehohe
ing voices. WASHES his ears !"
washes his neck |" Dora Yocum
! told his mama to turn the hose on
him.
Wesley broke from them and backed
away. swinging his strapped books In
q dangerous circle. "You keep of |"
he warned them. II got as much
right to my pers'nal appearance as
anybodyp
| This richly fed their humor, and
they rioted round him. keeping outside
the swinging books at the end Of the
strap. "Pers'nal appearance
"Yowi Ole dirty Yves. he's got per
s'npl appearancew "who went
and bought It for you. wesf"
Nobody bought Il for him. Dora
Yocum took and give him one p
you leave ladies' names alonei"
cried the chivalrous Wesley. you
ought TO know better. on the public