The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-11-01
CHAPTER xxi


he merry month of May" and ais
"all in the merry green wood" Their
were great doings about the bold littl
%promontory where once stood the cab
in on the old wood-lot where tn
Simms family had dwelt.
The brook ran about the promon
tory, and laid at it's feet on tire
sides a carpet of bluegrass, annie
clumps of trees and wild bushes. No
far afeld on either hand came tn,
black cortland, but up and down til,
bluffy sides of the brook for som
distance on both sides of the King
dragged highway, ran the old wood
lot, now regaining much of the un
kempt appearance which character
lied it when Jim Irwin had drawn
upon himself the gentle rebuke of Old
Man Simms for lot giving a whoor
from the big road before coming into
the yard.
The cabin was gone, and In Its place
stood a pretty little bungalow, about
which blossomed lilacs n peonies and
roses and other old-fashioned flowers
furnished by Mrs. Irwin. For this was
the teachers house or schoolmanse for
the new consolidated Woodruff dis
trict, and the old Simms wood-lot was
h~enceforth to be the glebe-land of the
schoolmanse.
Jim turned over and over In his
mind these new applications Of old,
historic, significant words, dear to
oUaru roodar af bfc+o-x ffoI1Lo Io-1 81
"schoolmanse"-and it seemed to him
that they signiied the return of many
old things lost in Merrie England.
lost in New England, lost all over
the English-speaking world, when the
old publicly-paid clergyman ceased to
be so far the servant of all the peo-
pie that they refused to be taxed for
his support. Was not the new kind
of rural teacher to be a publicly-paid
leader Of thought, Of culture, Of prog.
ress, and was he not to have his
manse, his glebe-land, and his "1iv-
ingY And all because, like the old
clergyman, he was doing a work in
which everybody was interested and
for which they were willing to be
taxed. Perhaps ii was not so high
a status as the old; but who was to
say that? Certainly not Jim Irwin,
the possessor of the new kind Of civ
ing with its "glebe-land'' and Its
"schoolmanse.' He would have rated
the new as at least quite as high as
the old.
From the brow of the ~promontory, a
light concrete bridge took the pretty
little gorge In the leap Of a single
arch, and landed the eye at the bot.
tom Of the front yard of the school
house. Thus the new institution OF
life val in full view Of the school
manse veranda, and yet shut off from
1t by the dry moat of the brook and
Its tiny meadow of bluegrass.
Across the road was the creamery.
with Its businesslike unloading plat.
form, and its addition in process OF
construction for the reception Of the
machinery for the cooperative laun.
dry. Not far from the creamery, an6
also across the road, stood the black.
smith and wheelwright shop. Still
q thOA oONA thC SlAC tl hSIt the DdTH ~
poultry house, pens, hutches and yards
of the little farm-small, as were all
The buildings save the schoolhouse 1t
self, which was builded. as it shoult
bave been, for the future.
And ever the ~schoolhouse, when one
thinks OF the uses to which it was tt
be put-kitchen, nursery, kindergar
ten, banquet hall, theater, moving pic
ture hall, classrooms, manual training
laboratory and counting room
and what not, was wonderfully small
Colonel Woodruff said far too small
though 1t was necessarily so larg,
as to be rather astonishing to the un
expectant passer-by.
The unexpectant passer-by this Ma!
day, however, would have been espe
struck by the number of motol
cars, buggies and surveys parked il
the yard back of the creamery, alon,
the roadside, and by the driveway
running to the schoolhouse. People il
numbers had arrived by five o'clock il
the afternoon, and were still coming
they strOlled about the place, exam
ming the buildings and grounds, ant
with the blacksmith and thu
Dutter-maker.
Gradually they drew into the school
house like a swarm of bees into q hiv
by the queen. None of them
however, went across the concret
ridge to the schoolmanse. a v Mrs. i,
INNS, who crossed, consulted with :
FRS. Irwin about the %shrubbery and !
overs, and went back to Buddie and =
innie, who were good children but =
atchally couldn't be trusted with so !,
lany other young ones withouten some o
n
They're coming They're coming =" h
This was the cry borne to the people f
/ and about the schoolhouse by that 7
[ans Hansen who would be called 7
Ians Nilsen. Hans had been to the f
op of the little hill and had a look +
)ward town. q