Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1901 — AWARDING A PRIZE. [ARTICLE]

AWARDING A PRIZE.

A Girl Who Wm Entitled to It, bat Failed to Get It. The teacher of English literature at a very select, though not large, School for girls here in town recently offered a prize for the best essay on the “Canterbury Pilgrimage.” The essays were handed in by the class a fortnight ago, and last Wednesday, there being special literary exercises at the school, the best of the papers were read by their authors, and the prize, a daintily bound Chaucer, awarded. The teacher of literature had charge of the exercises, and as she is by nature quite the most easily embarrassed woman I know, she was thrown Into a panic by the audience of fond parents who had been Invited to hear the readings. However, she managed very well, and when she rose to award the prize she was outwardly perfectly calm and collected. Her little speech ended with: “And so, for all these reasons, we have decided that the prize belongs rightfully to”—and here for the fraction of a second she hesitated—“to Elizabeth Francis.” Then she sat down, very red lb the face, and the fortunate Miss Francis received the congratulations of her much surprised friends. Friday the doqr bell of the house where Georgia Jones—of course, you understand that these names are not to be taken literally—lives, was rung, and the teacher’s card was sent up to Mrs. Jones. Georgia is a member of the literature class, and had done her level best with her “Pilgrimage” essay. Mrs. Jones descended to the drawing room and the teacher plunged into the midst of her story. “I’ve come to bring this Chaucer to Georgia,” she stammered. 1 “It's precisely like the one I gave to Elizabeth Francis, and I want Georgia to have it, for Georgia’s essay was by far the best of them all. I intended to give her the prize, but when I got up to make the announcement—why, all of a sudden, I forgot what I was going to say. I couldn’t for the life of me remember Georgia's name, and the only name I could recall was Elizabeth Francis. So I’ve brought Georgia this book, and I want her to have it.”— Washington Post.