Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1877 — A QUEER COURTSHIP. [ARTICLE]

A QUEER COURTSHIP.

Yon know how it is in a letter (began the little shop-keeper, rubbing her thin hands together helplessly). I was writing tq brother Joshua, away down East, hundreds of miles from here, and happened. to toll him, amongs.other things, •that the widow lady thitt iielped teach school hero, and boarded with me, was going away. I didn’t say a word one way or the other about Mr. Steele, for what did it matter to them whether he was a tyrant or not ? I only wanted to tell them I’d been at a good\leal of expense in fitting up the room, and I didn’t mind her board money so much as I did tp have the chamber idle again, and nobody about the house but myself, though she was poor company at the best, being sickly in constitution and low in spirits the most of the time, and after a while nearly driven crazy .by the continual badgering and bickering of Mr. Steele. She used to come home at night that worn out, what with the wickedness of the children, and the eternal nagging of the schoolmaster, that’ I’ve seen her put her head down on the table and cry fit to break her heart. She said she couldn’t please him, do what she might, and it was ruining her nerves to see him beat the boys in the way that he did. She was sure he’d break some of their bones. I tried to.cheer her as best I could, telling her that boys’ bones were tough, and the little rascals deserved to be paid up for some of their deviltry. After an hour or two she’d come around again and be comfortable, but, la me! what was the use? The next day, perhaps, she’d be worse than ever, and the creature’s health began to fail so, I was glad when she gave up and went away. She was very down-hearted, Sam Riley, the stage-driver, said, all the way down to the train, and he gave it as his opinion that Mr. Steele was no better than a blackhearted tyrant. Sam is such a good-natur d fellow that it quite wore upon bis mind, ami he stopped a bit with mo on his way to the evening train to talk it over. I wanted him to get some little tilings for me at Pikeville, and, while I was making out the memorandum, Sam told me how he pitied whatever poor body was to take that poor creature’s place. You can just fancy how 1 felt when Sam drove up to the door that night, and 1 went out to get the package, to see brother Joshua’s daughter Jemima on the seat with Sam, chatting and laughing away as merry as a cricket. I was powerful glad to see the child, but dreadfully mortified to find her tucked in there witii the driver. I told Sam pretty sharply that he ought to know better, for there was plenty of room inside, and I didn’t know what the boarders over the way would think of it. “ She was bound to ride outside,” said Sam; “ and a willful woman must have her way.” “Mhy, it s all the fashion up our way, ’ said Mime. “ The summer boarders swarm all over the tops of the coaches hke so many lively bees; but if it hurts anybody’s feelings I’m sorry. A schoolmarm mutt mind her p’s and q’s.” “ A sehoolmarm ?” I said, wondering what the child meant. Then she told me she’d come out to take that poor little woman’s place; that she’d written to Mr. Steele as soon as my letter was read at home, fofr she couldn’t get along at the school there. It would take a saint to put up with their airs and their interference, and you know I like to have my own way ” said my niece Jemima. “ Yes,” I said, fori had known Mime’s temper from a child. Anybody could see from her hair how fiery she was; but the dear child'was just as the good Lord had seen fit to make her, and I, for one never hold red-haired people accountable for freaks of temper. Only you can see how ridiculous it seemed to me for her to teach under Mr. Steele. “ Out of the frying-pan into the fire, Mime,” I said. The schoolmaster has it all his own way here, and he’s little better than a brute. I’ve seen under my own eyes a woman’s heart almost broken with him.” Then I went on to tell how he’d torpiented that poor widow into, giving up the place, and how I’d seen her worry and fret till the skin fairly dropped oft' her bones. “Pooh! po«h!” said my niece; “the skin won’t drop oil my bones, aunty.” And I couldn’t help thinking what a pity it would be if it did, for whiter and finer and wholesomer skin I never did sec. It was the kind that so often comes with red hair, and a lovelier color never was in a blossom than bloomed in Mime’s cheek when she cried out: I ve got to fight it out somewhere, aunty; let him mind . his business and 111 mind mine !”

My heart fairly warmed to the girl as she sat opposite to me at the table crunching slice after slice of toast between her white teeth, and devouring the dainties one by one. The little widow had been so finicky, and I had such a poor appetite myself, that things came and went upon the table, and were warmed up and fussed over till a body got tired of seeing them. Then she was mv own flesh and blood, snd had the Schoonmaker nose, a little high with Mime, and ireckled over the bridge»a bit but she was a bonny, blithe, freshlookmg creature, so different from the ■wretched little woman that had just gone ' away. I couldn’t bear the thought of her spirits and health being broken bv that dreadful Mr. Steele. “I’ll tell you, Mime,” I said, as she dried the dishes for me, “what we’ll do. You shall stay at home with me and help about the shop ; there’s bonnets now amJ then to trim, and lots of

little knick-knacks in worsted-work to be made.” “ Now, aunty,” said Mime, “ a buffalo would be less clumsy at trimming a bonnet than I would, and as for worsted-work —” “ I suppose so,” I said, for I could see she was determined to teach. The next morning she went to school, and for a month or so everything went right, and I didn’t hear a word ‘of complaint from her. She made fun enough of the schoolmaster, and said he didn’t know how to manage the boys, and made himself more trouble than was necessary ; that a coaxing word of hers went farther than a dozen slashes of that rod of his ; but everyone had their own way, and it was none of her business. She was getting along splendidly, and the smaller children were quite delighted with a way she had of picturing out things on the blackboard. Mime was quite ready with her pencil, and had made us laugh, Sam Riley and me, many a time, by scrawling off funny conceits on paper. Sam Riley began to drop in at night, and I noticed he was quite taken with Mime. Sam was well to do, and, outside of his line of stages, owned a fine house down on the main r<.id. Sam didn’t mind being hit off himself once in a while—him and his horses and passengers and all; he used to sit back on his chair and laugh till the tears rolled down his cheeks, and look over at me, winking and blinking, and whispering, under his breath, what a wonderful woman she was. “She’s as fresh and handsome as a rose,” he would say when Mime was out of the room ; “and what health she’s got, and what spirits !” I could see how things were going. Dear ! dear ! I used to sit and picture it all out to myself, and think how nice it would be to have Mime settled near me for life. So when she came home one afternoon from school, with a bright spot burning on either cheek, an angry flame in her eyes, and said to me that war had begun between her and Mr. Steele, I didn’t so 1 much mind, for I thought the sooner she got discouraged the better. Sam was well on to 30, and, though Mime’s skin made her look younger than she was, there wasn’t so much difference as you’d think between their ages. ‘ ‘ He’s forbidden my illustrations on the blackboard, aunty,” said Mime; and though I didn’t know one bit of board

from another, I could see by the way she felt about it that it was a great spite to Mime. “He calls them pernicious and exciting to the imagination, and injurious to more practical requirements,” said Jemima. And I couldn’t quite get the hang of h s objections, for every word of the schoolmaster’s was as long ’as the moral law, but I could tell it was some imposition of his. “He’s a nar-row-minded idiot, and I shall tell him so if he persists in this notion,” said Mime.

“If he persists,” I said, “you’d better give it up. He’s so set in his way, there’s no use crossing him. ’’ “I won’t let him cross me,” said Mime, and she didn’t. She went on with her pictures on the blackboard for a full week or more, till one night there was a rap at the sitting-room door, and it gave me quite a turn to see the long, bony figure of the schoolmaster standing on the threshold. Mime started up, a hot color leaping into her face, and stood there confronting him like a young Jezebel. The man looked pale enough himself, sinking into the chair I set for him as if he was quite worn and spent like, and he seemed boat out in some way; for, though he fixed his eyes savagely on Mime, there was something in ’em that looked tired and hunted. “I have come here to remonstrate with your niece, madam,” he said to me, * ‘ though I’ve found it of very little use and profit heretofore; but however capable and efficient she may be, and however judicious it may seem to retain her services, her spirit of insubordination is top dangerous an example to the naturally rebellious and headstrong temperament of youth. She must confine herself strictly to the rules that govern the method of instruction. The trustees-—” “ Don’t put it on the trustees,” broke in Mime; and I was glad she took it upon herself to answer him, for I couldn't make out head or tail of what he was saying, what with his long words and the fluster I was in. “ The trustees are mere lay figures for you to dress your petty schemes of conceit and tyranny upon. ” Ho his hand impatiently, and went on: “It is the will of the trustees that you shall put aside the puerile and reprehensible course you have taken in exciting the imagination and creating frivolous -and mischievous embtrons. The pursuits of my own class have been interrupted, their attention distracted —” ‘ ‘ Why don’t your class mind their own business?” said Mime. “ Why do you look at me, or listen to me, or bother with mo at all? It is not your class that is disturbed, Mr. Steele it is you.” The schoolmaster’s face suddenly reddened, then grew paler than before ; he wiped the perspiration from his long high forehead, and his bony fingers actually trembled on his knees. I don’t wonder he was mad, for Mime went on in the most outrageous way. Her spunk was up, and she wasn’t a bit afraid of him. ‘ ‘ You can’t bear to see knowledge made easy and pleasant,” she said. ‘ ‘ You’d like to knock every new idea into the brain with a sledge-hammer ; you hate to look over at the Children and me, and see us making light of our task—it’s gall and wormwood to you, Mr. Steele.”

“ Hush, Mime !” I said, for I could see that he was getting more and more excited, and I didn’t know but what he’d fling the lamp at her head, or something. But lie mastered himself, and up he got and went away without another word; and pretty soon Sam Riley came in. I thought we’d have a nice evening, for Mime was in high feather; and sitting down to the table she caught up a pencil and made the schoolmaster take every ridiculous shape that she could. Her eyes shone and her cheeks glowed, and I didn't wonder Sam couldn’t take his eyes off her face. “Say the word, Mime,” said Sam, “ and I’ll punch the idiot’s head.” “ Who are you calling an idiot ?” said Mime, turning straight upon Sam. “If you had the hundredth part of his intelligence, you might be glad.” “I thought you called him so yourself,” said Sam, meekly, for he was head-over-ears in love with the young termagant. “If I did,” said Mime,” “it was absurd, and I’ll never do it again. No, Sam, I’ll beat him with his own weapons. I’ll go to the trustees myself. If he can wheedle and coax them, so can I; and, if he can bully them, perhaps I can do that too.” •

“You can do anything,” said poor Sam. And soon after that Mime said she was tired and sleepy, and sent Sam off, as cool as you please. Then she got upon her feet and walked about the floor, and I could see she was terribly put out and excited by the schoolmaster’s visit. “ You’ll wear yourself out for nothing,” I said, for it vexed me to see her all in a fret that way from pure spite. “ He’ll break your health and spirits like he did with that poor little body that was here before you.” ‘ ‘ I don’t believe all those stories about that woman, aunty. I’ve found out she had heavier troubles than those put upon her by the schoolmaster. You mustn’t believe all that you hear.” That was the way with Mime—she was that contrary when she was vexed that she d swear black was white, and take the part of the JSvil One himself. |*De began from that time out to fight;

hard for her own way, and iKfot to be pretty well known that she was winning over the trustees. The children never liked anybody as they did Mime, and little Bill Pritchard, that used to play truant half the time, and would rather take a beating any day than be pent up in school, went there as regular as clockwork now, and began to mark out horses and dogs with a stump of a pencil himself; and Mr. Pritchard he was one of the trustees, and he thought the world and all of my niece Jemima. But somehow or other, just as I said, the continual worriment of it fretted Mime, and she got thin, and lost her pretty color; and the night she came home and said she had got the best of the schoolmaster, and the notice had been served on him that day that he was to let her have her own way of teaching, that night I made up-my mind that it was about time that it was settled in some way, for Mime was more fidgety and contrary than ever; and I don’t believe everything would have turned out as it did if Mime had been in her sober senses. The girl was about half wild, and I don’t believe she knew what she was about; for it stands to reason that she must have hated the schoolmaster, and yet when I began to glory over his defeat, and say how glad Sam Riley would be, she shut me up in a minute. “Sam Riley and Mr. Steele,” she said, “ are two very different men.” “ I should hope so,” I said. ‘ ‘ Sam is made of a different stuff, ” she went on to say. “ The little pricks and torments that sting the soul of Mr. Steele to madness would be utterly unfelt by Sam. Sam is a good fellow—” “ Thank you for Sam,” I said, for she was enough to provoke a saint. “ But he has not the capacity for suffering that, Mr. Steele has; and oh, aunty, he cloe? suffer ! ” “Serve him right, the monster,” I said ; and had scarce got the words out of my mouth when there was a rap at the door. I went over, thinking it was Sam Riley, when there was the thin, gaunt face of the schoolmaster again. He came in and bowed as grave as an 4 owl, and sat down on a chair by the door; his cane rolled down beside him on the floor, and for a full minute or so he couldn’t find a word out of that long dictionary in his head. I was glad to see that Mime’s spunk came back at the sight of him. Her eyes were as bright as they could be, and her cljeeks like the heart of a hollyhock.

“My errand here, Miss Jemima,” he began, “is altogether a friendly one. You have so much spirit and determination that I think your present subordinate position is unfit for you. I know of one that will be shortly vacant, which you can fill with great credit to yourself and all concerned.” “I’m much obliged to you,” said Mime, her lips beginning to curl, and the color in her cheeks deepening, to a flame, “but I’m quite satisfied where I am. I can well understand that you’d be glad to be rid of me, but I must beg to decline. I’m not going away from here.” “But Tam going away from here,” said the schoolmaster, getting upon his feet. “It ism// place that will be vacant, and that I think you may have if you choose. ” “ You —you ! ” said Mime ; and I don’t wonder the child was astounded at the news. I was quite flustered myself. “Yes,” said the schoolmaster; “you can have your own way now. ” And he went out the door, bowing awkwardly as he went, a queer, miserable smile struggling into his face. Dear! dear ! the contrariness of woman ! No sooner was the door well shut on him than Mime put her head down on the table and began to cry, Her hair got loose and fell all about her, and, to make the matter worse, I heard a footstep outside, and this time 1 thought.it must be Sam Riley. “For goodness’sake, Mime,” I said, “don’t let Sam Riley see you in this way!” But the door opened, and there stood the schoolmaster again. He said he had come back for his cane; but he never even stooped to pick it up, but stood staring at Mime as if she was a. ghost instead of the- fresh, pretty, wholesome creature that she was. She raised her head, and, though her face was half hidden by her hair, her eyelashes were wet, and the tears not dried yet on her cheeks. The schoolmaster, not minding me any more than if I was a block of wood or something, walked straight over to Mime.

“You know very well,” he said, “that I am only going away from here because I love you. Because it was not the class that was distracted by your pretty ways and devices; it was I. You know all this very well, and can tell me whether I had better go or not. Now tell me, shall 1 stay ?” You might have knocked me down with a feather when I saw Mime put her hand out timidly to the schoollmaster, and ho turn pale and catch it in both his own. “ Of Course not,” I broke in, for I was near distracted by the way things were going. “If you’re an honorable man, and got any sense left, and an eye in your head, you’d see that my niece is as good as engaged to Sam Riley. ” “ Sam Riley !” said Mime, as scornful as if poor Sam was a toad or something, and holding on to the schoolmaster’s horny hands as if she was drowning. Like enough they’ll beat her some day, and if so she’ll like him all the better for it, for before I’d got out of the room I heard her tell him she’d teach any way that suited him best; and my only hope is that he’s got a little money laid by, for he said he didn’t intend she should teach at all. But, dear! dear ! when I heard the crack of Sam Riley’s whip outside, and knew the evening stage was in, and poor Sam not knowing what was in store for him, I had to go up stairs and have a cry all to myself. And all I can say is, if Mime marries the schoolmaster, it’s a mighty queer courtship.— Harper's H eekly.