Below are a few sample
sentences from the story of
The Brown Mouse
his tsuow-workers of the field the
tender Uttle love-story was the .ole ro-
retked <rh|hl*
J*ca1“ "Humph!"
he fek n T
’ " fron>
I d « o f h i.
contempt for the
dee of hla marrying. It relegated him
f “ **lle M category with other de-
* Dd bad* e<1 hlm with the cell-
bacy of a sort of Twentieth-century
5 ° D™ Jriih0Ut
h° nor ot th# Pr‘est-
J i j C? aOn" ^ rom another girl it
Jetm?.h u-6 bT D bS<1 enou* h- b“ t from
r iT
W<x>druff~ <nd especially 0D
that quiet summer night under the
linden—it was insupportable.
“Good night.- said Jlm -gim ply be­
cause he could not trust himself to
Every teacher, every pupil, every pat­
ent of a pupil in the rural schools, ought
to read thia atory. Subacribera will find
it in the Euterpaise soon. Those whj
not subscribers, inatead of paying «2 for
the book, can get tbe complete atory in
he Enterpriae by paying only 50
ecu's for a four-months' subscription,
and the publiaher agreca to discontinue
the paper at the end ol me four months
naless the subscriber sends in a renewal. aaj more.
'Tt seems as If it ought to be pos­
sible," said Jim. "for a man to do
work on the farm, or In the rural
schools, that would make him a liveli­
hood. I f he Is only a field-hand, 1»
ought to be possible for him to save
money and buy a farm.”
"Pa's land Is worth two hundred
dollars an acre," said Jennie. "Six
months of your wages for an a c re -
even I f you lived on nothing.”
“No,” he assented. “11 can’t be done,
and the other thing can't, either.
There ought to be such conditions that
a teacher could make a living."
"They do.” said Jennie. "If they
can live at home during vacations. I
do."
"But a man teaching In the country
ought to be able to marry."
“Marry 1" said Jennie, rather unfeel­
ingly, I think. "You marry!" Then
after remaining silent for nearly a
NOV. 15, 1923
"I voted fhr him," replied Bronson,
"because he fought for my boy thia
afternoon. I didn't want It stuck Into
him too hard. I wanted him to hate
one vote.”
, ty • jfe MOUSE
r b e r t ~Quiclc
fhs grading gang laughed. Newton
»Tinned even while In the fell clutch
Of circumstance. Ponto tried to smell
the chauffeur's trousers, and what had
been a laugh became a roar. Cau-
K«t and mercy departed from the
Chauffeur's mood; he drew back his
ust to strike the boy—and found It
caught by the hard hand of Jim
Irwin.
"You’re too angry to punish this
boy," said Jim gently, "even If you
had the right to punish him at a ll!"
The chauffeur, however, unhesitat­
ingly released Newton, and furiously
delivered a blow meant for Jim's Juw,
which miscarried by a foot. In reply'
Jim countered with an awkward
IT * ^ H E N Herbert Quick writes a story it is the time for every-
L t / one to sit up and take notice; fo r he is one o f the most ver­
Jim
“You Marry I Humph!"
minute, she uttered the syllable—with­
out the utterance of which this narra­
tive would not have been written.
“You marry 1 Humph 1"
Jim Irwin rose from the bench
tingling with the Insult he found In
her tone. They had been boy-and girl
sweethearts In the old days at tbe
Woodruff schoolhouse down the road,
and before the fateful time when
Jennie went "off to school" and Jim
began to support his mother. They
had even kissed—and on Jim’s side,
lonely as was his life, cut off as It
necessarily was from all companion­
ship save that of tils tlnv home and
g g r l R E Y O U a brown
Have you
a touch of that lun-
«■■i acy called genius,
which gives you extra­
ordinary ideas and makes
you do things better or
at least different from the
average run of people?
I f so, you are a Mendel-
ian segregation of genetic
factors (not meaning to
call names) which scien­
tists say produces the
brown mouse and other
odd things in the animal
creation. Read
p 1 1 mouse?
The
Brown
Mouse
By HERBERT QUICK
Here ia one of the most
original stories in the
world; a novel as enter­
taining as it ia instruc­
tive; a regular thought-
awakener containing ac­
tion, rom ance, hum or,
real ch aracter atudles
and a love interest. It la
not about mice but about
people, th e ir problems,
ambitions, emotions and
affections. The au th or
l i m p l y h ad a h a p p y
thought when he took a
b ro w n mouse and ap­
plied its charactertatics
to a human.
Follow the Story
Serially in
i per. beginning Nov. 15
Countered With an
Upper Cut.
Awkward |
satile and entertaining geniuses in this country. Farmer, school­
master lawyer. editor public servant, social worker and novelist he
has had a great round o f experiences and has worked many o f them
mto his stones. Born m Grundy county. Iowa, he has been mayor o f
' upT e ludSe. editor o f Farm and Ftrestde.
member o f the Federal Farm Loan bureau and several other national
¡he RcdC^mT W
swinging uppercut. It lnnded fairly on
the point of the Jaw. The chauffeur
staggered and slowly toppled over Into I
the soft earth which had caused so ]
much of the rumpus.
“Oh. cut It out," said a fat man In I
the rear of the cm, who had hither- |
to manifested small Interest In any­
thing save Ponto. “Get In. and let's
he on our way 1”
Colonel Woodruff, waiving toward I
him in his runabout, held up by the
traffic blockade, asked what tvas going
on here, and the chauffeur, rising
grnggliy, climbed Into the car; und the |
meeting dissolved.
“Good work. Jim,” said Cornelius j
Bonner. ‘1 didn't think 'twas In ye!"
“It ’s beastly,” said Jitn, reddening.
“I didn’t know, either."
h“ ‘ " "
rf M
th e S c c S * Br0Wn M ^ !Se" M '- '. Q * * ^ s taken hi, inspiration from
h k ,C'ek
Crotsed JLapanese waltzing mice w ith the
,h
‘ T ng ° 'her hybrid‘ 8° ‘ a brown individual
J h dlfferent from ‘ nything else in the world. Unlike its domes-
■W*>'' * * in*Wtd- •Cr" d“ d *nd
f a t h ^ ^ v i t her°
to a n X r ?
'he Ule;
a brOWn mouse
His Peddl‘"2
' f t m0USe' n£ i800d except ,o 'umP from one spot
h tt had
i
Hls mo,her was * w hi,e mous* ' ha^
IT g had all her color washed out in one w ay or anoiher Like the
Jim'h^d"1^ ’ ’
refuSe< ? * Ct accord'"8 ’O »he rules o f heredity
pletefv woke‘ u i flh,,| OWnf nd d'd many ,u rPrisinS things. He com­
pletely woke up a sleepy farming community and showed tt w hat a
touch of genius can do.
T h is C h a rm in g T a le W i ll R un as a S e ria l in
the Enterprise, beginning Nov. 15
The deadlocked member« of the
board had been so long at loggerheads
'hat their relation« had swayod back
to aomethlcg like amity. Jim bad
scarcely entered when Con Bonner ad­
dressed the chair.
"Mr. Prisldent," «aid he, "we have
wld u i t'nlght, a young man who nades
no Introduction to an audience In this
place, Mr. Jim Irwin. He think« we're
bullheaded mule«, and that all the
«chool« are bad. At the proper time 1
«hall move that we hire him f r teach­
er; and plndlng that motion, I move
that lie be given the floor. Ye've all
beared of Mr. Irwin'« ability a« a
white hope, and I know he'll be 11»-
I tened to wid res p< ct i ”
"We have had the privilege of 11s-
t'nln'," said Con Bonner, rising, "to a
great speech, Mr. Prlsldlnt. Makln' a
good spache Is one thing, and teach­
ing a good school Is another, but in or­
der to bring thia matter before the
board, I nominate Mr. James E. Irwin,
the Boy Orator of the Woodruff dis­
trict, end the new white hope, f r the
Job of teacher of this school, end I
move that when he «hall have received
a majority of the vote« of thl» board,
the secretary and prlsldlnt be lu-
sthructed to enter Into a contract with
him f r the cornin' year."
The president followed usage when
he said: “I f there's no objection. It
will be so ordered. Prepare the bal­
lot» for a vote on the election of teach­
er. Mr. Secretary."
There was no surprise In view of
the nomination of Jim Irwin by the
blarneying Bonner when the Secretary
smoothed out the first ballot, and
read; "James E. Irwin, one." But
when the next «Up came forth, "James
E. I'w in, two,” the board of directors
of the Woodruff Independent district
were stunned at the slowly dawning
knowledge that they had made an
election! Before they bad rallied, the
secretary drew from the box tbe third
and last ballot. A d read, "James E
Irwin, three "
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
"Move we adjourn," said Peterson.
“Xo "bjectlon 'tls so ordered 1" said
Mr. Bronson.
Tbs secretary «nd Jim went out.
whlla tbe director* waited.
"What the Billy—" begin Bonner,
and finished lamely! “What for did
yon vote for ths dob, E i r
i G ob tinned is column 5)
HALSEY KNrKKEM iSK
If you are interested in cow testing and want to
interest your neighbor in it, got him to read “ The
Brown Mouse,"
"An' I wanted him to have wan vote,
too," said Bonner. “I thought meellf
the only dang fool on the board—an'
be made a spache that aimed wan
vote—but f r the love of hlvln, the»
f*r a teacher I Whet come over
you. Haakon— you voted f r him, too I"
“Ay vanted him to have one wotet
too.”
t
*
Peterson.
*
*
*
__
*
*
*
*
"Jennie," said Colonel Woodruff,
after the party had broken up, “I'm
losing the best hand I ever had, and
Pve been sorry."
“I'm glad he's leaving you," said
Jennie. “He ought to do something ex­
cept work tn the fletd for wages "
"1 ve had no idea he could make
good as a teacher—and what Is there
In It If he does?"
“ What has he lost If he doesn't f
rejoined Jennie. "And why can't he
make good?”
"The school board’s against him, for
one thing.” replied the colonel. "The.v'11
tire him If they get a chance. They're
the laughing-stock of the country for
hiring him by mistake, and they’re Ir­
ritated. But after seeing him perform
tonight, I wonder If he can't make
good."
“I f he could feel like anything but
an underling, be'd succeed." said Jen
nle.
"That's hls heredity," stated the
colonel, whose live stock operations
wore based on heredity.
"Jim’s a
scrub, I suppose; but he acts as If he
might turn out to be a Brown Mouse."
"W hat do you mean, pa," scoffed
Jennie— "a Brown Mouse!”
“A fellow in Edinburgh,” said the
colonel, “crossed the Japanese waltz­
ing mouse with the common white
mouse. Jim's peddling father was a
waltzing mouse, no good except to
Jump from one spot to another for no
good reason. Jim's mother Is an al­
bino of a woman, with all the color
washed out In one way or another.
Jim ought to be a mongrel, and I've
always considered him one. But the
Edinburgh fellow every once in a
while got out of hls variously-colored,
waltzing and albino hybrids, a brown
mouse. It wasn t a common house
mouse, either, but a wild mouse unlike
any he had ever seen. It ran away,
and bit and gnawed and raised hob. It
was what we breeders call a M end*
Han segregation of genetic factors that
had been In the waltzers and albinos
all the time—their original wild an
eestor of the woods and fields
If
Jim turns out to be a brown mouse,
he may be a bigger roan than any of
us. Anyhow, I'm for him."
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
"What we came for, Mr. Irwin, Is
to object to the way the teachln's
being done—corn and wheat, and hogs
and the like. Instead of the learnln'
schools was made to teudheU < an see
sq' the whole district can (ff^ tla t It's
easier for a man that's been a farm­
hand to teach farm-hand knowledge,
than the learnln* schools was set up
to teach; but If so be he hasn't tbe
book education to do the right thing,
we think he should get out and give
a real teacher a chance.”
“Whet am I neglecting?" asked Jim
mildly.
Mrs. Bonner seemed unprepared for
the question, and sat for an Instant
Every school pupil who belongs to an agricultural
or industrial club ought to read Herbert Quick's
story.
Every parent who wants his children to grow up
with respect for the dignity of the farmer’s calling,
and with an ambition to moke it a success, will
enjoy the story.
a<id I will send the Enterprise four months, contain­
ing the complete story of “The Brown Mouse," be­
sides its ordinary quota of local and state news,
editorials and, far from the least, advertisements
that will tel, you how to save money ami properly
satisfy many needs. I will send it to you or to any
address yeu may name, and will discontinue it at
the end ol the four months unless the subscription
is renewed.
This story is copyrighted by the Bobbs-Merrill
company. J have obtained the ritrht to publish it in
Ha’.sey, for I believe if will benefit our schools.
Wm. H. WHEELER
Publisher Enterprise, Halsey. Oregon
teacher I"
“Well, then.” said Newton, "don’t
tell the teacher that pa knew which
cows were good and which were poor.
I f any one In this district wants tn
know about their cows they’ll have to
come to this shop. And I can tell you
that It'll pay ’em to come, too. If
they’re going to make anything selling
cream. W alt until we get out our re­
ports on the herds, ma I"
The women were rather stampeded
by this onslaught ot the Irregular
troops—especially Mrs. Bronson. She
felt a flutter of pride In her eon, but
It was strongly mingled with a moth­
erly desire to spank him. The depu­
tation rose, with a unanimous feeling
that they had been scored upon.
“C o w e r scoffed Mrs. Peterson. “I f
we leove you In this yob, Mr. Irwin,
our children will know nothing hut
cows and hens and soils and grains—
and where will the culture come la?"
"CultureI” exclaimed Jim. " W h y -
why, after ten years of tha sort ef
school I would give yon If 1 were a
— 3ut you should retd the whole »lory,
wnich will soon appear at a serial la the
Enterprise.
The
Brown
Mouse
D id you ever hear of a
mouse that did any good?
Neither have w e; but it ap­
pears that there is a brown
one which has a great fac­
ulty for stirring up things
in mouse so ciety; and
"Any job’s as bigas the man who holds it down,’’
said Farmer Woodruff. Are you big enough to
make your job grow ? The brown mouse was. •
5Oc
raise nothing hut a family et farmers I
A fine thing!"
"They will be farmers anyhow,"
cried Jim, “In spite of your effort»—
ninety out of every hundred of theta I
And of the other ten, nine will he
wage-earners In the dtiee, and wish te
God they were back on the farm ; and
the hundredth one will succeed In the
city."
The guns of Mre. Bonner and Mrs.
Peterson were silenced for a moment,
and Mre. Bronson, after gazing about
at the typewriter, the hecktogra/h.
the exhibits of weed seeds, tbe Bab­
cock milk tester, and the other no-
scholastlc equipment, pointed to the
list of words, and the arithmetic
problems oa tbe board.
T n you get them words from tbe
speller?" she asked.
“No." said he, "we get them from a
lesson on seed wheat."
"Did them examples come out of aa
arithmetic book?" crose-exainlned she.
"No," said Jim. “we used problems
we made ourselves. We were figuring
profits and losses on your cows. Mrs.
Bronson !"
"Bara Bronson.” said Mrs. Bronson
loftily, “don't need any help In telling
what's a good cow. He waa farming
before you was born!"
“Like fun, he don't need help! He's
going to dry old Cherry off aud fat­
ten her for beef; end be can make
more money on the cream by beefing
about three more of 'em. The Bab­
cock test shows they're Juet bearding
on us without paying their board I"
The delegation of matrons ruffled
like a group of startled hens at this
Interposition,
which
was Newtoa
Bronson'* effective seizing of the op­
portunity to Issue a progrwa bulletin
In the research work on the Bronson
dairy herd,
“Newton I” said hls mother, "don’t
Interrupt me when I ’m talking te tbe
By HERBERT QUICK
Every schoolteacher will enjoy it.
Send me
FAOH 3
when a human is born
with some of the charac­
"We Object to the Way the Teachln’s
Being Done.”
mute. Mrs. Peterson Interposed her
attack while Mrs. Bonner might be re­
covering her wind.
"We people that have bad a hard
time," she said In a precis* way which
seemed to show that she knew exactly
what she wanted, "don't want our
children taught «bout nothing but
work. We want our children to learn
nice tblngs. and go to high school, and
after a while to tbe Jtrnlwerslty."
“Aren't your children happy tn
school, Mrs. Peterson T*
"I don't eend them to school to be
happy, Yim," replied Mrs. Peterson,
calling him by the name most fam il­
iarly known to all of them; "I send
tnem to learn to be nigner people than
their father and mother. That’s what
America means!"
"They'll be higher people—higher
than their parent»—higher than thelr<
teacher—they’ll be efficient farmers,
and efficient farmers’ wives. They'll
be happy, because they will know how
to use more brains In farming than
any lawyer or doctor or merchant can
possibly nse In hls business."
"It's a floe thing,” said Mrs. Ronner,
coming to the aid of her fellow sol­
diers, “to worh hard for a lifetime, an’
teristics of this little ani­
mal, he always manages to
make a stir in his circles.
If you are a farmer you
are going to revel in this
story, for, along with some
very delightful romance,
it carries a num ber of
ideas that are sure to be
valuable in your business.
If you are a town penon
it carries some ideas that
will greatly interest you.
and you will be charmed
by its love atory. Read
about Jim Irw in, the hu­
man brown mouse, who
dared to aspire to the
affections of the queen
mouse of his district
coo
N ew Serial Story
* Starting in
Halsey Enterprise
b tru in in f Nov.
15
4