Show I TRouse I B Bli HERBERT QUICK Copyright by The Tho Bobbe Bobbs Merrill Bobba-Merrill iU Comp Company LINING LIMING UP JIM SYNOPSIS SYNOPSIS Jennie Jennie Woodruff refuses 8 to marry Jim Irwin young youner farm hand because of his finan financial ial condition and poor pros pros- He Is Intellectually above his station and has advanced Ideas concerning the possibilities lies of school teaching and farming for tor which he Is ridiculed by many In short snort Jim Is an oft off ox x He Hocks flocks by himself and reads books and has a philosophy of his own But there are latent powers In him unsuspected even by himself and Opportunity comes knocking at his door Jim is I. 1 nominated for teacher school as asa asa asa a Joke The Joke results In his election He visits the scholars Jennie is nominated for county superintendent of schools Jim speaks at a public meeting condemning condemning condemning con con- rural school methods Prom Prominent women condemn Jims Jim's method of te teaching the they demand culture His pupils defend him CHAPTER VIM VIII Continued 7 7 7 Jennie blushed and to conceal her slight embarrassment got out put for the purpose of cranking her machine But If it I cannot line him up said saidI sh she I 1 tank k said Haal HaaLon on If It you cant can't cantIne cantline cantline line Ine him up you ou will have a chancel chance to o Tew ke his bis certificate when y you u take office office Jennie thought of Mr Petersons Peterson's suggestion as to lining up Jim Irv Irwin Ir In Inas as sq thoroughly sensible that she gave It a good deal of ot thought that day ay To be sure everybody y had al alwayS always always al- al ways favored more limore practical education tIon ion and Jims Jim's farm tarm arithmetic farm arm physiology farm reading and writing testing cow exercises seed analysis corn clubs and the tomato tomato poultry and pig clubs he proposed to have lave In operation the next summer s d highly practical but to Jennies Jennie's Jen Jen- pies nie's mind the fact tact that they Introduced intro- intro introduced dissension In the neighborhood and promised to make her official life lite vexatious seemed ample proof that Jims Jim's work vork was visionary a and d Ical Poor Jennie was not aware aware of ot the he fact tact that new truth always alwa's comes ringing bringing not not pence peace to mankind but a Ii sword Father said she she that night lets have lave a little Christmas par party y All At right said the colonel Whom shall hall we Invite V Dont Don't laugh said she I want to Invite Jim Irwin and his mother and ami nobody else All right reiterated the colo colonel But why Oh said Jennie I III want to to see whether I can talk Jim out of some soine ot of f his foolishness You want to line him up do you you said aid the tha colonel Well II that's good poU politics and Incidentally you may get gets s some ome I 1 g good od Ideas out out of Jim I Rather unlikely said Jennie I I I dont don't know about that said the colonel olon l smiling I III begin to think that hat Ji Jim's Jims ns n's a Brown Mouse Ive I've t told you about the Brown Mouse haven't 1 I 1 Yes X said Jennie lI Youve told me But Professor s Darbishire's brown rown mice were simply wild and IncorrIgible incorrigible incorrigible in In- corrigible creatures Just because it h happens to emerge suddenly from froni the theto to forests rests of heredity It prove that hat the Brown Mouse is n. n any good good Justin n Morgan was a Brown Mouse said th the colonel And he founded the greatest breed of horses In the world You say that said Jennie because because because be cause youre you're a lover of ot the Morgan horse borse Napoleon Bonaparte was a Brown Mouse Mouse said the colonel So was George Washington and so was Peter the he Great Whenever a Br Brown wn Mouse Mou e appears he changes things In a little tittle wf way way y or a big way For the better always asked Jennie No said the colonel The Brown Mouse may throw back to slant head ed savagery But Jim sometimes sometimes some some- times I think Jim Is 19 the kind of ot segregation out of ot which we get Franklins Franklin and and their sort You may get some good Ideas out of ot Jim Let us have them here for Christmas by all means There Is no doubt that on Christ Christmas mas mss day Jennie Woodruff was jus Justi Justified l- l tied fled in hi thinking that they were a queer couple They weren't like the Woodruffs at all They were of ot a I different pattern To be sure Jims Jim's clothes were not especially noteworthy noteworthy note note- worthy being Just shiny and frayed at cuff and Instep and short of ot sleeve and leg and Ill fitting and cheap Jims Jim's queerness lay not so much in hi his clothes as In his personality On the other hand Jennie could not help thinking that Mrs Irwin's Irwins queerness queerness queerness queer- queer almost solely In ness W was S to be found her clothes The black alpaca looked un undeniably respectable Jennie felt It must have a story a story In which the stooped rusty somber old lady looked like a character drawn to harmonize harmonize harmonize har har- monize with the period Just after atter the I wo war But Jennie had the keenness to see I that it if If Mrs IrwIn could have had an costume she would have to date become a n rather ordinary and not bad bath looking looking- old lady What Jennie failed could have to divine was that If It Jim Invested in a hundred dollars In the services services services ices of ot tailors haberdashers barbers and other specialists In personal appearance appearance appearance ap ap- ap- ap and could have nave blotted out his record as her fathers father's hand field he he be would have seemed to her ber a distinguished dis dis- looking young oung man Not handsome of or course but the sort Bort peole people people peo peo- le look after and after and follow tollow Come to dinner said Mrs Woodruff Woodruff Woodruff Wood Wood- I ruff who at t tills this tl Juncture had a hired girl but hut was yoked to the oar nevertheless nevertheless nevertheless never never- when It came to turkey and the other fixings of ot a Christmas din din- ner Its lilts good goodenough enough what there is Rf of ot it and theres there's enough of it such as asIt asit asit It it is but Is-but but the dressing In the turkey would be better for a little more sage I IThe The bountiful meal piled mountain- mountain high for guest and hired help and family fam fam- fly ily melted away In to n a manner to delight delight delight de de- light the hearts of Mrs Woodruff and T Jennie The The he colonel In stiff starched shirt black tie and frock coat carved with much and Jim felt almost for tor the first time a sense of ot the value of ot ma manner nerI ner I had bigger turkeys said Mrs Woodruff to Mrs Irwin Invin but I thought It t would be better to cook two turkey turkey- hens Jens Instead of one great big gobbler with meat as tough as tripe and stuffed full of fat One of ot the hens bens would a been plenty replied Mrs Irwin How much did they weigh About fifteen pounds apiece was the answer The liThe gobbler would a weighed thirty I g guess ess Hes He's pure Mammoth Bronze I L wish said JIm that we could get jet a few breeding birds of the wild bronze turkeys from Mexico Why asked the colonel h Yr the original blood of ot the I bronze turkeys said Jim and they they're re bigger and handsomer than han the pure bred bronzes even They're a better stock than the Northern North North- Northern ern em wild turkeys from which our common common common com com- mon birds originated Where do you ou learn all these things Jim asked Mrs Woodruff I I declare I often otten tell Woodruff that Its It's as good as n a lecture to have Jim Irwin vIn at table tabre My Intelligence has fallen tallen since you quit working here Jim There came Into Jims Jim's eyes the gleam of ot the man devoted to a Cause and and the dinner tended to develop Into into nto a lecture Jennie saw a little littlemore littlemore le lemore more plainly wherein his queerness i lay ay Theres Tn eres ere's an education In any meal If f we would Just use the things on the table as materials for tor study and fol- fol fol- fol I it Talk Jim Out of Some of His Fool Fool- 1st low lov their trails trans back t to their stal starting points This turkey takes tithes us back to the chaparral of Mexico Mexico- chaparral asked Jennie as a diversion Its lIts one of f the words I have seen so often otten and know perfectly perfectly perfectly per per- to speak It and re read d It but It-but but after all Its It's Just a word and n nothing more Aint that the trouble with our education education edu edu- cation Jim 1 queried the colonel cleverly cleverly cleverly clev clev- erly sf steering Jim back Into the he track of ot his discourse They liThe are not even living words answered Jim unless we have clothed them In flesh and blood through some sort of ot concrete notion Chaparral to Jennie Is Just the ghost of a word Our civilization is full tull of Inefficiency ncy because we are satisfied to give our children these ghosts and shucks and husks of words Instead of ot the things themselves that can be seen and hefted and handled and tested and heard CHAPTER IX The Brown Mo Mouse se Escapes Jennie looked Jim over carefully His queerness was taking on a new phase and phase and she felt a sense of surprise surprise sur sur- prise such as one experiences when the conjurer causes a rose to grow Into a tree before your very eyes I III think we lose so much time In hi school Jim went on while the chIldren children children chil chIl- dren are ea eating tIng their dinners Well WelI Jim said Mrs Woodruff every lIe one bat you Is down on the human level le Th The poor kids have hae to toen en eat U 1 But think how much good education education tion there Is wrapped up in the school dinner l dinner if we could only get It out Jennie grew grew grave Here was this DrOwn Brown Mouse actually introducing the subject of ot the school school and and he ought to suspect that she was planning to toline line Hue him up on this very thing thing thing-If If he wasn't a perfect donkey as well as a dreamer And he was calmly wading into the subject as If it she were the ex hand ex country teacher and he be was vas the county superintendent elect I Eating a dinner like this mother said the colonel gallantly is Ills an education education education edu edu- cation In Itself and itself and eating some others others oth oth- ers em requires one but Just how tow lamIn larnIn lam lain In Is wrapped up In do Ule school lunch Is a a. new v. new new- one on me Jim Well VeIl said Jim In Olin the first pla place e ethe the children ought to cook cool their meals as a part of ot the school work Prior to that they ought to buy the materials And prior to that they ought ou to keep I the accounts of the school kitchen They'd Thed like to do these things and It would help prepare them for lor life Ute on onan onan onan an intelligent plane while white they prepared prepared pre pre- pared the meals that looking rather far ahead asked the county superintendent superintend superintend- ent ent elect Its like Uke a lot of ot other things we think far tar ahead urged Jim The only reason why they're far off oft is because because be be- cause we think them so Its It's a thought and and a thought is as near the time mo mo- moment moment ment meat we think It as It will ever be beIt I III gueSs that's so to sp to a wild eyed reformer r said the colonel But go goo o on Develop your our thought a little Have som some more dressing Thanks I believe I will said Jim And a little more of the cranberry sauce No more turkey please Id like Ilke to see the school class that could prepare this dinner said Mrs Woodruff Why said Jim be there showing them how howl I They'd get credIts credits credits cred cred- its In their domestic economy course for getting the school dinner and dinner and the they'd d bring their mothers Into it to help them help stand at the head of ot their classes And one detail of girls would cook one week and another serve The setting of ot the table would come comeIn comeIn comein In a as a study study flowers study flowers linen and all that And when we get a civilized teacher table manners 1 I II I Id take on ors that class said the hired man winking at Selma Carlson the maid from somewhere below the salt The IThe way I make my knife feed m my face would be a great help to the children And when the food came on n the table Jim went on on with a smile athis at athIs athis his former laborer fellow who had heard most of ot this before as a part of the field conversation just think of ot the things we could study while eating it it The literary term for eat eatIng eating eating eat eat- ing a meal Is discussing it It well well the discussion of ot a meal under proper I guidance Is much more educative e than thana a lecture This breast-bone breast now v said he referring to the remains on his plate p physiology ly The cranberry cranberry cranberry cran cran- berry sauce sauce that's that's botany and commerce commerce commerce com com- merce and soil management management-do do you know Colonel that the cranberry must have ha an acid soil whIch soil which would kill alfalfa or clover Read something of ot It said the colonel but It didn't Interest me much And the difference between the types of ot fowl on the table table that's that's breeding And the nutmeg pepper and coconut coconut that's that's geography And everything everything everything every every- thing on the table runs rams back to geography geog geog- raphy and comes to us linked to our lives by dollars and cents cents and and they're mathematics We must have something more than dollars and cents in life Ufe said Jen Jen- nie nOle We must must have culture Culture cried Jim is th the ability to think In terms terras of ot life Isn't life Isn't It Like Jesse James James' suggested the hired man man who was a careful student of ot the life Ufe of ot that eminent bandit There was a storm of ot laughter at this sal sally y amidst which Jennie wished she had thought of ot something like that Jim Joined In the laughter at athis athis his own expense ense but was clear clearly Y suffering suf suf- fering from from argumentative shock shack sh ek ats at's the best best answer Ive I've had on n that point Pete he said after otter t the e disturbance had subsided But If It the James boys bos and the Younger Youngers had had the sort of ot culture Im I'm for they would ha have been successful sto stock k men len and farmers Instead of ot trait train robbers Take Raymond aymond SImms for tot Instance He had all the qualifications of ot a mem member member ber her of ot tl the e James Jame gang sang when he came here All he n needed eded was a few exasperated exasperated exasperated ex ex- ex- ex associates of ot his bis own sort and a convenient r railway Uway with undefended undefended undefended unde unde- fended trains running over It IL But after a few tew weeks of real Teal culture under a mighty poor teacher hes he's developing developing de de- Into the most enthusiastic farmer I know That's real culture Its snow snowing ng like Uke everything said Jennie who faced the window ID Dont nt cut your dinner short said the colonel to Pete but I think you'll find the cattle ready to come In out of the storm when you get good and through I think Ill I'll let em In now said Bald Pete by way of ot excusing himself I expect to put In most of ot the day from roll now on getting ready to quit eating Save some of everything for tor me Selma Sel Sel- back 1 I ma Ill ma-I'll Ill I'll be right All right Pete said Selma Mrs Woodruff and Jims Jim's mother went Into oth other r parts of ot the house on research work connected with t their converse erse on domestic economy The colonel withdrew for tor an Inspection of ot the live stock on the eve of the threatened blizzard |