Show 40 MOU 51 E apt col SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I 1 jennis jennie woodruff con coli to refuses to marry jim rr fr win young farm arim hand tarry because caus e ot of his rina noial condition and poor prospects ile ht is intellectually above him station and S fit ilan advanced idels concerning the possibilities of expert school teaching for or which he Is in ridiculed by many CHAPTER ir II more as aa a loke joke than otherwise jim to I 1 selected as eacher teacher ot at the woodruff lt district school CRAMER CHAPTER III jim in his new position sets out to make stanch blanch friends of his pupils pupil especially two boys newton bronson and bu auddy simms the latter the son aon of a sit dr I 1 atless farmer colonel I 1 I 1 woodruff jennies father has little faith in jims ideas of improving rural educational methods ile he nicknames him the drown brown mouse in illustration luat ration of an anecdote CHAPTER IV jims conduct of the 8 school chool where here w he endeavors to te teach a c h t the he call children dren the wonders of nat nature u re and some of the scientific methods of farmin its as well as book learning la in condemned ju jha U dont steep no order said eald bonner banner ho he lets newt do as he bo pleases I 1 first time hes bes ever pleased to do d anything but deviltry protested bron WIL son oh I 1 suppose jlou fall down and well have to ore fire him but I 1 wish wo we could git a good teacher that would git hold of newt the way ho he seems to V I 1 CHAPTER V the th promotion of jennie it if jennie woodruff was the cause ot of jim erwins irwins sudden irruption into the educational field by her sc humph I 1 at the idea of a farm hands bands ever being able to marry she also gave him the opportunity to knock down tho the driver of the big motorcar and perceptibly elevate himself in the opinion of the neighborhood while filling his own heart with something ake shame the tat ant man who had said bald cut it out to hla his driver was mr charles dilly a business man in the village at the extreme opposite corner comer of the county mr dilly was a candidate for county treasurer and wished to be nominated at the approaching county j convent convention lon in his part of the county I 1 I 1 lived the county superintendent a t i candidate for he was just it a plain garden or field county oui bui perin of schools no better and j no worse than the general political i run of them but lie ho had local pride on listed tit in his cause and was a doaa politician i mr dilly was in the woodruff 1 district dl J to build a backfire against this j conflagration of the county ile ho expected to use jennie j woodruff to light it withal that la Is I 1 while denying that he wished to make j any deal or trade every candidate in j every convention always says bays that he wished to say to miss Wood woodruff rufy and her father that it if miss woodruff would permit her name to be used for tho the office of county superintendent of schools a goodly group of delegates I 1 i could be ba selected in the other corner of the county who would be glad to reciprocate any favors mr charles J dilly might receive in the way of votes for or county treasurer with bal lots for or bliss jennie woodruff for su on of schools mr dilly dally never inquired ds as to aless woodruffs abilities as an educator that would have been eccentric miss bliss woodruff never asked herself if sho she know knew anything about rural education which especially fitted her for the task tor for was she bhe not a popular and successful teacher and was not net that enough so are tho the officials chosen who supervise and control the education of the farm children of america when jim irwin started home from putting out his team the day after tits his first call on the simms family jennie was wag waiting at the gate to bo be congratulated on her nomination 1 I chopo youre elected jim sold said holding the hand sho she had extended but theres no doubt of that they say not replied jenale but father believes believed in working just as it if we have a big majority for the ticket say a word tor for me when on your pastoral rounds all right suld said jim what shall mall I 1 say bay do for the schocia sch ocla why sold said dewile rather perplexed ill bo be fair to in my examinations of teachers tea cheA try to deev the unfit teachers out of the schools visit schools as often as I 1 can and why what does any good superintendent do dor 1 I 1 never heard ot of a good county superintendent said jim never beard of one why jim it win I 1 1 I dont believe there la is any such thing persisted jim and if you do 60 alno no more than you say yontl bo be off tho the tame piece as the refit real your system wont give as any better schools than we have of the old sort tort and mid we need a new kind on jim jimi dreaming as aa of yorel yore I 1 why cant yea be ba practical all t what do you mean by a new kind bind of 0 rural enral bleb 1 t would be correlated with life it would get education out st of things tho the farmers and fArm rrt wirva are interested in as a part pan of 0 thedr lives jennie looked serious after czatt 0 oring ming a laugh jim said bald she youre goans to have a hard enough time to succeed ta in tho the woodruff scho school oll isyou chudne yourself to methods that have bow bo tested and found good but tho the old methods methode urged jim have been tested and found bea bad shall sha I 1 keep beep to they havo have made the tb aberion pie plo what nhat they tire said eold dont bi unpatriotic jim thoy they have educated our fora ebb dron dren for the cities cold jim imatt county Is losing population and ira U the best county in tho world 4 pessimism Vessim ism never wins saw fald jon jao die alo neither docs davs blindness amiem jim it Is losing the farb their dwellers ond and swelling the tha ciuc with a 0 proletariat for some time now jim bad and to hold bold Jenn fols liand hand I 1 end and theo their owe as heart days bad never cemon tatina away jim said jennie 1 1 b I I baity be dt ed to a position in which I 1 sw hu be b obliged to pass on your sets as teab er in an official way I 1 tnt incan I 1 boo be they will be justifiable jim smiled his slowest and smile if not ru not uil go aw t 1141 condone them said he bo ai bat t 10 first good night said jenn jennie curtly they must bo be justifiable to me jendie good night said jennie curtly und and left him jennie I 1 am obliged to admit lavt scant attention to the now new career upon which her old sweetheart seemed tt tc be entering she was waa in politics politic and was playing tho the game ta is became the daughter of a local politician col albert woodruff went south with the th army as a corporal in 1801 and came back a lieu nant mant lla his title of colonel was conferred by appointment as a member of the staff of the governor long years ago when he was waa county auditor lie ile was not a rich man as aa I 1 may have suggested but a well to do farmer whose wife did her own work much of the time not because the colonel could not afford to hire alra help but tor for the reason that hired gira girt were hard to get the colonel having seen the glory of the coming of tho the lord in the th triumph of his side aide in the great war was inclined to think that all etona had ceased and was waa a political stani patter a very honest and sincere one onic moreover lie he was influential enough so go that when mr cummins or mr dolliver Doll lver come came into the county on political errands colonel woodruff had always been called into conference am H was of the old new england type b believed very much in heredity try much in the theory that whatever k 1 Is right in so far as an it bag baa secue cur money or power A very respectable honest ameri can tory was the colonel fond ot at ble M political sway ond and rather douw by 11 the fact that it was passing from hirm lie he had now broken with ud and Doil lver as he be had done years ago with weaver and later with Larrat xe ond and this breach was waa very important to him whether they were greatly con can corned about it or not such being her family history jennie jendie aoa ans something of a politician herself she was in no way surprised when approached by party manners manag cra on the subject of accepting the noal nomination for county superintendent of schools colonel woodruff could do liver some delegates del ego tea to his daughter tighter though he rather shied at the tha pro at first but on thinking tt it over OTT warmed somewhat to tho the notion anotle n of ta having vinga a woodruff on tho the county pay roll once met more CHA CHAPTER jITER VII VI jim ro talks talk the weather cold to tho the rally james jim am had finished hla his supper and yeamon for a long evening in his attic don did with his cheap literature dut but as the th diati tot schoolmaster he was to i some client silent responsible for the protection of the tha school property anti anil felt aam sense of duty as aa to exhibiting in to interest IQ in public affairs it 1 I gnus ill have to go mother ii bo a replied regretfully 1 I want to tee see mr woodruff about borrowing tile his babcock mul muk tester and ill HI go that way it I duew ril go on to the meeting n ile kissed nil his mother when he went a habit from which he never deviated and mother another of those personal which had marked him as diff different emit two frow the other beya of the neighborhood ilia mother urged hla his overcoat upon him in vain for jims jime overcoat was wa distinctly a bad one while hla big best suit balt now worn every day ex 4 concession to hla his scholastic pI lUon tIon atall looked passably weal after went weeks of schoolroom duty doty it teemed seemed more logical to as aft that the stather was milder than it really was on that sharp october evening and appear at his bet best albeit anther aware of the cold jen en ate boto nt at home and ho he was vena likely to sep sc ond be seen of her tea can borrow that tester tala said me afi land aad the cows that go with 14 tt N M p wi can tue em in they ama their keep hero but MW floo does the afo milk tester dt into the el cd the school A decora tift r we W wat to make a few tests of we ft to eat to la the neighborhood an fevered berid am just another of my fool wood ati AM arv void said the colonel take a 11 long to the pc aklo hes going aalde jennie courte IS MI my mooting meeting jim belp ra ja going assented jim A S t aft ru r run along alone t awta wo bad room for yon in the m tadd td the colonel but im going br b Il x to pick up the saw ru have bave a chuck up in of a load good as you tusk 1 mid JO im going with jua tbt st walk waa will do mo me good alty aay wanni arms to her voting fi stion jt si before election but wats had a kindness for jim tte U was as ae boma farm band the tact att be 14 W WM coming to be a center ol 01 4 io in the tha district and that he quits quite falle to understand how bow hla his could bo harmo barmo blae with these tho principles of teach les which be abe had bad imbibed at the state nomal school in itself lifted him beam to equality with her A public fi alAc to ks really ally more respectable than A she ehe gave anve jim a thrill as she cho passed through th abe gate fate that he opened for her bt white moonlight on her bor white fan purity exaltation tho essence eabe of won womanhood hood things tar far floey ta in the woman of twenty seven than the glamour thrown over him by the school girl of sixteen alz teen jim am rare pro her ber no thrill for he be looked gaunt and angular in his skimpy ready made suit too short in less lega and aad slob fl eevea ves and too thin for tho the season acl as aa they walked along jim grow upon hw ue he strode on with immense strides rides tt made slow alow to accommodate her shorter step and embar lassins her by his entire absence of to keep step for all that he lifted his face to the stars atara ond and he pointed out the great open spaces in the milky way wondering nt at their emptiness and at the fact that no telescope tele rope can find stars in ahm they stopped and looked jim laid his bla hard bard hands on the shoulders of her white fur far colln collerette rette Wb at the uso use of political meetings said jim when you and I 1 can stand here and think our way out even beyond the limits of our verser A wonderful journey said she not quite understanding his mood but while we beyond the milky way we arent getting any votes for me for county superintendent jim said nothing tie ile was wag quite established reestablished re on the earth vont dont rou ra wont me to bo be elected ator mr jim lemed to ponder this for some timea time a period of tolling taking the matter trader aPo ment which caused jennie to te drop his bla arm am and busy herself with haf skirts 71 ym re sald W jim at alati of courso course I 1 A awre was said until they rallied ra elied tee schoolhouse door said rid jennie rather indle quitty MU itty tn V glad there are plenty of voon who are more enthusiastic about me sa than you seem cm to be bet I 1 more hr to a keen observer tux the were the unusual la in the th room itself on the with problems in arith tittle ww awo as to the feed W valti ef barlous rations for live frda of laying hens and corn com a to the excess cress of value in eaf over tho the cost of feed pinned to the wall were market report oa es all tort of farm products and gip especially Mally numerous anmer ous were the sta artles on the prices of cream and but tw ter there wu elloa of farm papers piled about and acks of agricultural bullet lna tim in one corner comer of the room was wa a i machine and in ber a secir anchine parts of an old telephone we ire scattered about on OB the me A A model of a tood stood on L shelf helt done in cord card urd board instead of the usual collection of text bloks beolk to in tho the desk deak there were h hoc toga th cople copies of exercises reading Ift ions arithmetical tables and essays on mattera relating 0 to o tiri tare 0 or air of which re c were accounted for by two or thrpo handmade hand made graphs a very vera fair sort of printing plant lying on a table tho the members of the school board were there looking on these evidences of innovation wonder and more or less disfavor things were daisor adert the wil tn books recently adopted by the board against some popular protest had av evidently been pitched nock neck and crop out of the school iol by tho the man whom hod had termed a dub it wits was a sort of contempt f for or the powers that be colonel woodruff was in uie the chair after tho the speechifying speechify ing was over and the stereotyped stereotype a though rather illogical appeal lind been made for voters of the one party to cast the straight ticket and for those of tho the other faction to scratch tho the colonel rose to adjourn the meeting neiton nei newton ton bronson Dro neon safely concealed behind taller people called out jim imin I 1 speech I 1 miteru was 0 n slight ansa tion and many voices joined in the vall call for tho the now naw schoolmaster colonel woodruff elt tho the ot ignoring the demand probably he relied upon jims discretion and expected a declination jim arose seedy goody nud and lank and tho the voices ceased bavo for another surl eup pressed titter 1 I dont know said jim wh whether other this cull call upon mo me Is it a joko or not if it 11 Is it a practical one for I 1 cant talk I 1 dunt caro much about parties or politics I 1 dont know whether im a democrat a republican or a pop iop allet 11 this caused it a real sensation the nervo nerve of tile the fellow 1 really it must inest in justice bo be said jim was losing himself in a desire to tell tits ills true feelings ile forgot all about jennie and her candidacy about everything except his file true feelings athla proves that lie was no politician 1 I dont see much in this county campaign that interests me he went on and jennie woodruff reddened while her seasoned |