A ROMANCE.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3015, 14 October 1878, Page 1

A ROMANCE.

'.;> i!) -o .h <-.■' -.ii.' f "M ,*;." ,„_ (ZftOM. I9E Jf£W XP)IK,,TJ:mrf ) ..-,.,- -- There is in; a ruraLKentucky villatjo a >middle-aged, grey.Jyurcd^school tcacifer. He is nearsighted, excessively basinul, andydensely ,o( thu nature aud hao'lts of girls',' Everybody concedes thafc he is a good man, luL hc^ha's al^ay;, beou believed to be as impervious to romance as iia rhinoceros in a travelling menagerie. yet into this dry and snktUemalioal perspn^s, prosaic life has lately corF-> a unique and charming romance, and he has h*%u l«d to study- ancl their uses with an interest even greater th.au that which he formerly found in compound fractions aod, cube roots. . „ ? „;,t<aßt winter this remarkable man was engaged to. teach the Sarlansville district school. He did not know a soul in the piUage.<;but the school trustees, knowing that ihej had conducted the male depart* n&ent of a Frankfort school with eminent success 1, engaged him at a large salary! The HarlansviSle scholars included the youths'l of both sexes; and were for the most part, orderly and industrious. There wasV however/ one'girl in the school who •wain' probably the most mischievous and re'ekless of her "sex. There is no doubt that Miss Alice/ as she was generally cajled,'was a yery pretty girl, and no one claimed that she was guilty of any serious crimes. Still, ; ehe was never out of mischief and would plan and execute enterprises from which the average boy, would shrink in terror. When it is added that slwwhs 15 yeirs old? and unusually large for her age, it; will be perceived that she was well adapted to render the life of*a school teacher unspeakably wretched. • Wien Miss Alice first saw the new teacher she at once perceived that he was admirably adapted,to be' teased. His manifest, Ushfulness, and the mnocent, unsophistioatea) expression of his kindly, butifar.from handsomer face stimulated .her mischievous propensities to the utmost^ She'began her persecution withoutdelay* and car.ried.it on with (imm^se success. T4a».«od fpaos .would, fail : wexe. t ,it r Attempted to catalogue the various devices by which she plagued the patient teacher. It was not long," however, before he discovered,,that the demure Mi.ss Alice was at the; bottom' of, all the mischief iajscliool, though she* was' too astute f td ■perrn^herself to be detected in any overt act: 'One of her favourite methods'of Mra'ssing the good >teaoher was to pretend,to,inrardent admirattoii for him." She woa^d-.con-stantly go t6 his "desk on) the pretext of asking his help in'her lessonri and" while he war laboriouslyll eiplaininp iiow this* sum-'shHuld* lbeVdpt»er ior'f!Ort- that verb should be parsed! she- would^statui by hisside gazing at him with an-air •of'-liOpeloss and passiona'e attachment_,which filled the scholars' with the vnldesfc delight. Then,- too, she would constantly nunjiqe to touch, with apparent iirico'ns( liouiiic>gi the teacher's hand or shoulder, or woald lean over him. so that her breath .would fan his sparse and delicate hair. Tiio uneasiness betrayed .by the mat'CcuL man in these , circumstances , »vas pxcesn.oly ludicrous, and delighted llic naugtity and her fellow-pupils uiv;pe.il<riK!y. The day cauio, liow^vcr, \. in-u .iss AllbeT grown carolfss with los.g ini<ni..;ty t was detected iv llio act, of linu^ at duouior

girl with A bean-»hooter. . TKis was a oriffieftJr '.which the inexorablr"fel4alty was " ruleririjj." The i teacher. would have given much to avoid the necessity pf " rvjlering " a girl, but if he suffered Miss Alice's offence to pass without punishment he knew that he would he?a^se 5d oTsJun^ fairness, ( and that the discipline of the ■chool would be diitrojed,rM^itHa heavy heart he called ,her up for punishment, %nd ordered hereto hold out her hand. She Jield it out smiling, and unflinchingly, and when the. punishoien^waMnded she deliberately thireW her irnjs around the teacher's neck and, kissed slam. «<sl always return a kiss, for !■*- blow," Qic explained, as soon as the teacher recovered breath and consciousness; " for mother always taught me to; tlbfl^.^ Paving ■aid this, she west calmly back to her seat, and the teacher j wishing that the earth would open and. hide him, tried to calm his beating heart by studying history. fltom fa'spelUng-bo t6k-'held vupside idßwh?. I The cup of his misery was by no means fall. There f wasAa\rule 'in/ school that whoever climbed the fence into the pext. yiaft- atffd kole apples'. frobi !r!l)ga!con( Watkins's apple-tree should befogged. The' teacher, in order., to check the prowth of this. terrible-Vice, 'distinctly announced that this rule would be inexorably, enforced^ i-pp^' matter who might "be the culprit or what defence might be offered. Of course, it was never forl a.moment imagined that any girl could climb a fence or anapple tree^ and hence the teacher was horrified to discover, as h'e?approached the schbbi-house 'dne^mbrnV ing; Miss Alice perched 'on alitilb of the' 1 apple tree andiossing appies'lo', 'thef^eSfc'; of the scholars. .When he reflected that he, was; pledged to, ,in.^ic j t l upp» i( ,^©rjthjß severest punishn^ent 'kiown to 't)xe school ■ code, his knees smote together and he felt that death would be sweet and welapme;^r c ß,was a custom^to flo^lciilprifrftt-*the* morning recess, and when v ( the .teacher' notified Miss ■tA\ide\ilikfr she wduld remain in the school-room during recess, the other scholars chuckled with glee, and Ijhe |firl herself was ieen to blu^h.' When recess came, and the gtiilty^r^wa'l left alone with the teacher, the excitement, in the play- ground was imnienlej ihH'tfie large boys bet immense quantities of tops and slate-pencils in, favor of .-pry against t the probability that* Miss Alice^wduldJ be~in fact, punished. ; One u enterprising boy climbed the lightning-rod and looked in at the windows ' Ifc isl oft his evidence Hh'at the remainder of theijjjory rests. " He never even offered to lick...her," c testifieditHgrdisappdinVM l)of. B'&Me just: called her up and said, says he,' Ailie, I'd a darned sight sooner marry you than lick you.' Then says Allie-: 'It is about the same thing.anyhosf» ?o if you.iays marry, I'm with you.' Then the old roan, he kjssed her,> and that's how it ended. There ain't no fairness about n6'teacher. He wouldn't have let a tioy off that way, you bet." . Doubtless the precise language of the teacher and of Miss Alice was not correctly' reported, but the main, features, jrf the boy's eviienciej; were* undolib.ledJyldltrHe. The teacher was married last,week^ and has since repeatedly said that mafch'ematics are all very well, but that man needs to -cultivate his emotional nature and to.develope his domestic affections. His ro-' manoe certainly came to him late and in an unexpected way, but those =who have seen his young wife think he is a man tp be'envied. ' v .