The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-10-26

1 nave always humored him In this
and studied hard. Besides, I like to
nave better reports than Billy and
Muriel have. They are my dearest
friends and naturally I can't let them
get ahead Of me in anything. So I
Kept my mind on my studies most Of
the time, but under it all I was think
ing OF Daddy and how I could marry
MN of. For of course I had realized,
even while Muriels' and Billy's mothers
were talking, that I was the person who
would have to attend to the matter. =.
I am not one to turn aside when duty
stands in my path. I walk right up to
ner n take her cold hand. I knew
! must find some nice woman for Dad
dy to marry. But how? That, as Ham,
let said when he was up against it, too,
was the question.
There were two things to do. First,
I had to select the right wife for Daddy.
linen I had to bring her and Daddy to-
gether and see that they fell in love.
1t was not on Monday that the way
came to me. It wasn't on Tuesday or
Wednesday or Thursday, either Mon
day or Tuesday Cicero was simply w.
ful, and Wednesday Miss Spencer an
nounced in class that every pupil must
e the Merchant of Venice that week
and learn Portals speech by heart and
write a little paper telling what she
thought of it. Not what Portia thought
OF it, of course, but what every mt of
us thought.
and if any stranger came into u fair
city of Freeport that week, and walked
down Park Street, he would have heard
the first line of Portals speech coming
out of almost every open window. 1.-THE
quality Of mercy is not strained" We
all knew that much, but few indeed Of
the students knew more. I knew the
whole speech. Billy and Muriel knew
about half of it, with promptings. We
talked about it while we were going
home in the trolley about two. Never
will I tell any grown-up what Billy and
Muriel think of Shakespeare. I'd be
ashamed to-for after all Shakespeare
did have talent.
So it was Friday before I found the
right wife for Daddy. It was during an
English period, and it came to me just
like the gentle rain from heaven, that
Muriel Jackson was reciting about at
the moment. I was staring at Miss
Spencer, who was looking patient and
resigned, as she does when any one is
reciting Shakespeare.
I had only been in Miss Spencer's
class a few weeks, but I liked her aw-
fully. She is old, of course-as old as
Daddy, I should think; but she smiles
and laughs almost as much as he does.
She has a lovely complexion and gray
eyes and wavy brown hair. She's really
a celestial being and I wondered why I
hadn't thought of her before.
Most of the girls are crazy about her.
Her dresses are simply devastating.
They say she buys them in New York.
Most of our other teachers look al if
their dresses had dropped on them by
accident in the morning, so it is indeed
a pleasure to look at Miss Spencer's
clothes. The vase On her desk is always
full of flowers the girls bring her, and
e the boys made excuses to hang
around and ask her questions at recess,
My face grew hot with shame when I
realized how slow I had been in getting
around to seeing that Miss Spencer
would be the perfect wife for Daddy.
She was some n I liked, too, and that
was terribly important. I realized now
that the reason I hadn't thought of any
one sooner was that all the women
had thought of were women I. simply
couldn't bear to have around the house
I can truly say that no grass grew un-
der my feet while I was treading the
path Of duty. I went right up to Miss
Spencer's desk when we were dismissed
and asked her to come to supper that
night. She was so surprised that she
just stared at me. She said slowly
"Why, Miss Drew, is there any specia
reason why you want me to Gomez
(She calls every one Of her girls Miss
of course, when she remembers it,.
I said right away that there wa bu5
that I couldn't tell her what it was