Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1928-02-16

sale, uninteresting way she had seen
1t done In a school she had visited,
where the teacher, for q weary half
hour, had had the children telling
glibly what states enclosed other
states. What had the teacher called
thar-a certain wore she had usedi
It'll bore this man so he'll keep
away from here for the rest of his
life!" she determined
"Zebilla." she addressed the bright
est girl of the class that she sum-
moned to stand before the desk while
she and the superintendent nnY SAT-
behind it, ''enclose the state of Penn
sylvania"
Zebilla looked blank "Whats that
I'm to dOY
Enclose Pennsylvania" repeateo
Nicely confidently.
Zebilla still looked unenlightened-
even daZed. 81 wouldn't know how to-.
I don't know right how you mean
enclose It'll"
Nicely saw she had gotten the wrong
word. 81 mean-surround it; tell
what states, If any, surround tor
what bodies of water, or whatever
does enclose, surround or circum-
scribe It'll" she explained desperately.
Zach, do you mean, Miss Schwenck-
ton, I'm to bound Pennsylvania
THAT'S the word-yes, bind it."
A snort from the county superin-
tendent was a signal for the amazed
school and they broke into a roar OF
laughter that revealed to the embar-
raised teacher how seriously she had
erred. Her face flushed crimson. She
hated this monster sitting on her plat
form laughing till the desk shook
She raped for order The school
became quiet Proceed" she said
to Zebilla coldly.
PENNSYLVANIA is bounded on the
north"
When Zebilla had finished, Nicely
took as long time as possible in
drilling her to pronounce the letter v
by catching her lower lip between her
teeth. She prolonged this drilling to
the point of absurdity, for if she
called on any other pupil of this class
to bound a state. she herself would
have to keep her eyes glued to the
map to see that they got it right With
Zebilla ZOOk that had not been neces-
sary, for Zebilla could be depended
upon to answer correctly. She always
knew her lessons with depressing
thOroughness. So it was not until the
poor girl became FESTIVE and resent
full under her prolonged drilling that
the teacher desisted
Bind Connecticut, Hiram" she at
last proceeded most reluctantly.
connecticut is bounded on the
north by Massachusetts. on the east
by Rhode Island"
"Oh. come. an island can't bind any,
thing. What is an island, Hiram?'>
she asked, very pleased at Hiram's
blunder. for here she could be sure
Of her ground; she did at least know
the forms of land and waterl
"But Rhode Island" said Hiram,
gazing at her almost in horror. 'ain't
no island"
Her finger on the map, she could
see for herself, now, that it wasn't
and turning not and cold with con-
sternation, she yet tried to save her.
self. Every good, Hiram-I was try
ing to catch you up! OF course we alb
know how it came to be called am
island? Zebilla?"
But Zebilla. her standby. failed her
there-she did not know
"I'll ask the GLASS;" said Nicely has
tily. "to look that up for next lesson
She feared she was not succeeding
in her plot to "bore" the superintend-
ent She saw. in a quick side glance,
that he looked anything but bored
Indeed. he seemed to be enjoying him.
self. Probably he'd stay the rest OF
the day! Oh. how she hated and de-
spised him! Conceited pedagogue!
After few more states had been
bound cher eyes and finger fastened
the while to the map) she heaved q
sigh of relief and dismissed the class
to their seats.
"Now you've had your hearts de-
sire and have heard me teach geogra-
ply. What further" she inquired
with dignity, "can do for your
81 leave it to you" he bowed. max
ing no move whatever to go.
She decided to call up reading
class. There were no serious pitfalls
for her in American literature. That
is. If she could manage to resist the
temptation to act ont the reading les
son, in case 1t happened to be q
"piece" Gas the pupils would say) that
lured her to a dramatic execution
Of It'll
She settled that danger by ordering
the class to turn to speech of Theo-
dOre ROoSevelt'S. And too late She
realized her mistake. The speech
abounded in political illusions which
none but q native American would
understand. If only no one asked any
questions! They so seldom did mani
fest curiosity about anything-but 1t
would be just like the perversity OF
fate to inspire one of them to show
or before the superintendent
A hand was raised-the youngest
little girl in the class. please, Miss,