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Show LYDIA'S QUORUM BY BEIIiB MANIATES. ; "Well. Lyddr. I'll set 'ou th0 Jb If I can. but It's going to bo a mighty hard thlnc'to pet a 'corum,' " Dcncon TVatroua wns saying ' You sec. that younpr Wright thinks we ought to have a man. Of course, you'll havo my vote, but Bill 1 Slllcs Is always straddling a fence, and tho last man he talks to gets him. This young roller's high fcilutln tallc hind of ( caught Bill's fancy, nnd ho was totterln', but I took him In hand, and now he's ; loaiiln' our wny again. I'll stick to him i tighter than a brother and keep him away ' from Wight till tho mcctin is over. It's 5 tomorrow night." "1'ou aro bo good. Deacon AVatrous," realled I.vdla, raining grateful eyes, "and : jf I get tho placo I'll do my best to vln-i vln-i dlcato your choice." . 'Til do all I can. Lyddy," said tho i Lvdki Gardner had spent the past summer sum-mer away from homo, nnd when sho rc- turned to tho farm sho had found tho family In a state of gloom. Crops had " been poor, a number of cattle had died, 1 and tho inevitable mortgage had to bo 1 1 il ji fLILJ I ,f,Tain't her fault! I never did I know nothin' about rithmetic." ft ' met. Lydla proposed to meet it by tcach-i tcach-i jng In the district school. - She had been reasonably certain of securing the position, posi-tion, counting on tho deacon and Bill for a quorum, but now this young man, who 3iad fallen heir to tho farm of Ills uncle, John Wight, and had come to Tho Cor-! Cor-! nsrs In her absence, might carry his point oi hiring a man to teach. I She simply had to have tho position, and t : .the determined to help Deacon "Watrous i in his efforts to securo Bill's needed j vote. It would bo useless for her to ap-I ap-I peal to Bill Weathercock Bill." as ho J ! was called. Sho resolved to make a bold 1 move and encounter tho enemy whom she j had never seen. ' Hugh Wight, was in the sitting-room of I the old homestead pondering over this ame subject of a quorum. When he i succeeded to his inheritance ho had de-! de-! iermlncd to become a practical farmer K nnd win the esteemed position his uncle 3'. had ever maintained in tho hearts of the : simple country folk. ffThey had laughed ( at the young man for thinking he could r-r . , he a farmer, but he had shown them ho 0i E could learn from them and Improve on I their methods They were glad to have j 1 succeed his uncle as a member of tho "I I Khool committee: that seemed to be moro ifi 1 ln Lls 1,nc- w e aa as flrm convictions on tho edu-3 edu-3 catlonal question as he had on most sub-M sub-M f. Jecls. and he thought a man more fitted iM -1 to-RTftstie with tho difficulties of a coun-m coun-m T; ,r3" school than a woman. He had not i7. this applicant, but he did not np--'e of a young girl -who had no prcpar- ?3n or cxPcrIonco in teaching. Jn tho midst of his cogitations there was IMmt at tnc outer door. Ho opened It to li'?? mlt a wl"some, ulllowy girl, with big, W Innocent eyes and an artless manner AWl Ef 'ou iIr- Wight? I am Lydla Gard- L'$mM 1,0 acknowledged tho Introduction Hmk f'y. and asked her to be seated. Hugl: -J ? waa not a susceptible mun, and y ias teauly only strengthened him ir nis belief that sho was not competent fot the position of school teacher at Tho Corners. Cor-ners. ,iwiLnr aVou know" sllo said, "a can-t can-t ,1 ?Jor th. txsltlon of teacher. I hear th) Z , I aro ln ,f'u;01' of hiring a man for i ' 1 ' '"ul 1,,1o,1t .suppose anything r lrt4saV, would change your opinion. ' c" f to ask you not to induce Bill Stiles to vote against me " Ho was somewhat surprised at this frank appeal. Ho liked directness irtwi,ut'ans aP00'l deal to us," she con- P : ct 'l,wl11 50 very lmrd with my father. v.. J,aIn,ry w.ou,(1 "elf him moro than ou can know. J'uns 11 Ik'1 . a,3, ,r J10 ''ad been stealing ri.l . sl,o "did not want tho money for .'Wir,?s', tnon' ,b,,t to help hor father. nmi..lnt "o.yo,11 "can by my influencing Bill? ho asked. "It's like this." she explained. "Deacon uatrous Is, of course, for me. and Bill ft0' ,r uo,lld .b0( lf 'ou leavo him alone and say nothing about tho advantages advan-tages of having a man: hut the last person per-son that approaches Bill has him. and tncy say you havo a convincing tongue, iho deacon is going to try and keep Bill away from you until tho mooting is over, nut I didn't caro to trust to that, so 1 cam to ask you. I wouldn't presume to -sk you to voto foe me, only let Bill alone." Up to thio time the eyes. Voice and manner man-ner of tho young man had not been at all encouraging, but in the heartv peal of infectious laughter that followed hor request, Lydla caught a note of appreciation, apprecia-tion, and som way she derived hope from his amusement "Miss Gardner, it strikes me as rather odd that you should come and show mo Iho way to gain my point and then ask mo not to take it." "Mavbe it is." sho said wistfully, "but I dldn t know what elso to do." He remained ir. deep studv for a moment. mo-ment. 'He did not like to be influenced by personalities. "Well," ho said abruptly. "I'll not speak to Bill or In his presence about this matter, mat-ter, and I'll '.valve my objections for tills year and voto for vou myself, though 1 si ill believe a man should have the place " Two bright spots burned ln Lydla's cheeks. "Thank you. I will now havo another Incentlvo to do my best- I shall try to show you that 1 can fill the position as acceptably as a man. You look Incredulous. Incredu-lous. They all said about hero that you. a 'city chap,' could never mako a farmer, but you showed them you could. I'll show you I can mako a teacher." Having made this telling point, Lydla took her departure. Immediately the housekeeper came in and expressed hor approval of Wight's concession. "Lyddy's a smart gal, and for all her purty looks and baby way, sho's got a heap of grit. Pity her pa didn't have it. lie used to bo a professor, and he's eddi-cated eddi-cated Lyddy to uso good speech." At the meeting tho next night Lydla received re-ceived a umuilmous vote, and when school opened she was Installed as teacher. She made companions of tho big boys nnd girls and pets of the little ones. Tho country people were perfectly satisfied. In duo course of time Deacon Watrous and Bill Stiles come to mako the accustomed accus-tomed visit. Lydia wan fully prepared for this occasion, and Invited thorn to question tho class. They knew but a few questions to ask. and as they hnd paid many visits to tho school tho pupils knew tho answers by heart. Then Lydla asked them to sing a stirring war song and a hymn. Bill s little girl spoko a piece, care fully rehearsed beforehand. The two members went away enthusiastic over tho new teacher, and told Wight ho had better bet-ter go and see for himself. And he did so, appearing suddenly nnd unexpectedly, near the closo of an Indian summer afternoon. Lydla s expression of dismay caused a titter of appreciation among tho older boyo Instead of a reprimand repri-mand sho gave them an Imploring look that could not be withstood, and order reigned at once Lydla felt that the visitor visi-tor had noted the look and Interpreted It ns a confession or Innblllty to govern. Just as she was about to call upon the school for a song, little Bob Hanks let loose a mouse he had carefully confined In his book bag. IC.vcltoment prevailed among the girls nnd delight among the boys. Had Lydla known that she was to lose hor position alio would still havo dono as sho did now Jumped upon her choir. Hugh caught the mouse, throw it out of the window, ejected Bob and his book bag and In stentorian lono restored order. Lydla camo down from her chair, and In her confusion called upon tho arithmetic class lo como forward. Sho wished that Llgc Jenkins had remained at homo that day. .Arithmetic was not his forte. She planned adroitly to omit him. but the vIh-ltor vIh-ltor Instantly detected the omission and pounced upon tho unfortunate lady. "Llge," he anked, "how many times does nine go in twenty-seven?" To Lydla's dismay, Llge promptly stepped to tho blackboard and commenced a solution via long division, finally putting put-ting down "two" for an answer. "Try again, Llge," urged Wight, cheerfully cheer-fully Llge then substituted the flguro four for two. "You've got another gucs3 coming, Llge." The boy looked bewildered, and Lydla desperately camo to his rescue. "Llge. won't it go threo times?" she asked Insinuatingly. Llgo looked at her anxiouoly. Llge looked at her anxiously. "'Why, yes." ho replied slowly, "it will; but it's a dcrn'd light squeeze!" Then came that delightful, unconstrained uncon-strained burst of laughter that Lydla had heard once before from Hugh Wight. Tho school joined with him. The teacher looked at Iho clock and thankfully observed It was lime for dismissal. She stood at tho door until the last scholar hail vanished. Thou t,ho came back to the .platform, where Wight still eat and Llgc lingered. "Say." observed the lad earnestly, "faln't her fault! I never did know nuthln' about 'rithmetic nohow. Sho's tho best teacher we ever had." This touch of sympathy from tho llttlo champion was too much for Lydla. Her self-control slipped, and her head went down on the desk. "Llge," said Wight gently, "you did better bet-ter than I expected. Theto aro lots of things in llfo more desirable than a knowledge of tho science of numbers. Take this dime and go down to Tho Corners Cor-ners and see what It will buy." Tho boy sped happily away. Lydla raised her head. A little gleam of anger and defiance Hashed through tho tears. "You can send and get a man teacher as soon as you wont to. I am glad I am not a man!" "So am I, Lydla," ho 6ald heartily, with such earnestness of volco nnd eyes that the slender hand of the school teachor went up ln a pathetic, little way to her eyes. "I am your 'quorum.' you know." ho said, whimsically, but with the new softness soft-ness still In his voice, "and I didn't como to Inspect the school nor the scholars, but to take the teacher driving. Will who go?" Her hands camo quickly down from her eye, whose dimness was melting away In a glow of pleasure. "Yes." the replied. "I will go." (ro). right. IMS. by Belle Manlates " |