Tuesday, February 12, 19.24.
THE HEPPNER HERALD, HEPPNER, OREGON
Page Three
k.
gjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiitimiiiiim!
We
BROWN
MOUSE
nllllllllltlllllilimilllllllllllllil.llllliilllff
(Copyright by The Bobbs-Merrill Company)
J SYNOPSIS
CHAPTER I Jennie Woodruff con
temptuously refuses to marry Jim Ir
win, young farm hand, because of his
financial condition and poor prospects.
He is intellectually above his station,
and has advanced ideas concerning the
Possibilities of expert school teaching,
lor which he la ridiculed by many.
CHAPTER II. More as a Joke than
otherwise Jim is selected as teacher of
tneJVVoodrun district school,
CHAPTER IIL Jim, In "his new posi
tion, sets out t make stanch friends
of his pupils, especially two boys, New
ton Bronson and "Buddy" Simms, ths
latter the son of a shiftless farmer.
Colonel Woodruff, Jennie's father, lias
little faith In Jim's ideas of Improving
rural educational methods. He nick
names him the "Brown Mouse." in il
lustration of an anecdote.
CHAPTER IV. Jim's conduct of the
school, where he endeavors to teach
the children the wonders of nature
and some of the scientific methods of
farming, as well as "book learning,"
Is condemned.
CHAPTER V. Jennie Woodruff Is
nominted for the position of county
superintendent of schools. The school
board grows bitter in its opposition
to Jim and his Innovations.
CHAPTER VI. At a public meeting
Jim roundly condemns the methods of
teaching in the rural schools, and
makes no friend thereby.
CHAPTER VII. A delegation of
prominent women condemn Jim's meth
ods of teaching, but he Is stoutly de
fended by his pupils, especially Newton
Bronson.
CHAPTER VIII. Jim has Christmas
dinner at Colonel Woodruff's, and lis
tening to him, Jennie begins to do some
thinking concerning his ability and
his prospects,
CHAPTER IX. In the evening Jim.
as weil as he knows how, courts Jen
nie, without, however, making much
progress, though she is quickly losing
her poor opinion of him.
CHAPTER X. Jennie, elected county
superintendent of schools, receives so
many complaints from people of the
district concerning Jim's methods of
teaching that she finds herself com
pelled formally to ask for his resigna
tion. After she has left, Jim Is visited
by Colonel Woodruff, who strongly
urges him to refuse to resign, and
offers to back him. Jim agrees to
tick, for a while at least.
CHAPTER XI. A meeting of the
chool board, which had been gathered
to "get" Jim, Is confronted by Jennie,
who upholds him. He conducts an ex
amination of his pupils at the meet
ing, to prove that he Is not neglecting
their "book learning" by the Introduc
tion of other subjects which he con
siders of Importance. The splendid
. showing made by the children converts
" many, who had deubted, to his views.
CHAPTER XII The novel Ideas
which Jim has Introduced have been
talked about outside the county, and
he Is visited by Professor Withers, ex
tension lecturer at the state university,
who invites him to deliver an address
at the next annual meeting of the
Farmers' Institute.
CHAPTER XIII. Professor Withers
Is impressed by many of the innova
tions made by Irwin, and so informs
Colonel Woodruff and Jennie, some
what to the astonishment of both. The
colonel suggests to Jim that hs (the
colonel) se?k election to the school
board, replacing Cornelius Banner, im
placable enemy of Jim Irwin.
CHAPTER XIV. Feigning sickness.
Newton Bronson, youngster whom Ir
win has redeemed from Idleness and
folly and set on the right path, and
who almost worships the teacher, keeps
his father from voting at the school
board election. Bronson Is a friend of
Bonner, and would have voted for him.
As It Is, Colonel Woodruff Is chosen
for the position, owing to Bronson's
acsence.
CHAPTER XV
The Glorious Fourth.
A good deal it water ran under the
Woodruff district bridges In the weeks
between the school election and the
Fourth of July picnic at Eight-Mile
grove. But few surface Indications
there were of any change In the little
community In this annual gathering of
friends and neighbors. Wilbur Sraythe
made the annual address, and was In
rather finer fettle than usual as he
paid his fervid tribute to the starry
flag, and to this very pluce as the
most favored spot in the best coun
ty of the greatest state In the most
powerful, Intellectual, freest and most
progressive nation In the best possible
of worlds.
Jim Irwin read the Declaration
rather well, Jennie Woodruff thought,
as she sat on the platform between
Deacon Avery, the oldest settler in the
district, and Mrs. Columbus Brown,
the sole local representative of the
Daughters of the American Revolu
tion. Colonel Woodruff presided in his
Grand Army of the Republic uniform.
The fresh northwest breeze made
free with the oaks, elms, hickories and
box elders of Etght-Mlle grove, and the
waters of Pickerel creek glimmered
a hundred yards away, beyond the
flitting figures of the boys who pre
ferred to shoot oft their own firecrack
ers an torpedoes and nigger-chasers,
rather than To listen to tliwl of Wilbur
Smythe. Still farther oft could be
heard the voice of a lone lemonade
vender as lie advertised Ice-cold lem
onade, made in the shade, with a
brand-new spade, by an old maid, as
a guaranty that It was the blamedest,
coldest lemonade ever sold.
Cnder the shadiest trees a few In
corrigible Marthas were spreading the
snowy table-cloths on which would
soon be placed1 the bountiful repasts
stored in ponderous wicker baskets
and hampers. It was a lovely day. In
a lovely spot a good example of the
miniature forests which grew natural
ly from time Immemorial In favored
By HERBERT QUICK
.
locations oil me towa prairies nan a
square mile of woodland, all about
which the green corn rows stood aslant
in the cool breeze, waist-high and laid
by."
They were passing down the rough
board steps from the platform after
the exercises hflrl tprnilnuto.1 En a
rousing rendition of "America," when
Jennie Woodruff, having slipped by
evervbodv pise to reach Mm tnnnori
Jim Irwin on the arm. He looked back
at her over his shoulder with his slow
gentle smile.
"Isn't your mother here, .Tim?" Rhe
asked. "I've been looking all over
the crowd and can't see her."
"She isn't here," answered Jim. "I
was In hopes that when she broke loose
and went to your Christmas dinner she
would stay loose but she went home
and settled back into her rut."
"Too bad," said Jennie. "She'd have
had a nice time If she had come."
"Yes," said Jim, "I believe she
would."
I want help," said Jennie. "Our
hamper is terribly heavy, l'lease !"
It was rather obvious to Mrs, Bonner
that Jennie was throwing herself at
Jim's head, but that was an article of
the Bonner family creed since the de
cision which closed the hearing nt the
court house. It must be admitted that
the young county superintendent
found tasks which kept the school
master very close to her side.
"Sit down, Jim," said Mrs. Woodruff,
"you've earned a bite of what we've
got. It's good enough, what there is of
it, and there's enough of- it, such as It
Is!"
"I'm sorry," said Jim, "but I've a
prior engagement."
"Why, Jim!" protested Jennie. "I've
been counting on you. Don't desert
me!"
"I'm awfully sorry," said Jim, "but
I promised. I'll see you later."
One might have thought, judging by
the colonel's quizzical smile, that he
was pleased ut Jennie's loss of her
former swain.
"We'll have to invite him longer
ahead of time," said lie. "He's getting
to be in demand."
Jim seemed to be in demand a fact
that Jennie confirmed by observation.
He received a dozen invitations as lie
passed the groups seated on the grass
one of them from Mrs. Cornelius
Bonner, who saw no particular point
In, advertising dlsgruntlement. Ihe
CMIUleU ran w 1n.1V ..u lauiii iu ....
hands; young girls gave him sisterly
smiles and such trifles as chicken
drumsticks, pieces of cake and like tid
bits. His passage to the numerous
group at a square table under a big
burr oak was quite an ovation an
ovation of the significance of which he
was himself quite unaware.
But Jennie the daughter of a poll
tlclan and a promising one herself
Jennie sensed the fact that Jim Irwin
had won something from the people of
the Woodruff district In the way i
deference. Still he was the gangling,
Mnoolnlun, Ill-dressed, over-stricken
Jim Irwin of old, but Jennie had no
longer the feeling that one's standing
was somewhat compromised by asso
ciation with him.
He had begun to put on something
more significant than clothes, some
thing which he had possessed all the
time, but which became valid only as
It was publicly apprehended. He was
clearly the central figure of his group,
in which she recognized the Bronsons
those queer children from Tennessee,
the Simmses, the Talcotts, the Han
sens, the Hamnas and Colonel Wood
ruffs hired man, Tete, whose other
name Is not recorded.
Jim sat down between Bettlna Han
sen, a flaxen-haired young Brunhilde
of seventeen, and Callsta Simms
Jennie saw him do It, while listening to
Wilbur Smythe's account of the ex
acting nature of the big law practice
he was building up and would have
been glad to exchange places with
Bettlna.
The repast drew to a close ; and over
by the burr oak the crowd had grown
to a circle surrounding Jim Irwin.
"He seems to be making an ad
dress," said Wilbur Smythe.
"Well, Wilbur," replied the colonel,
'you had the first shot at us. Suppose
we move over and see what's under
discussion."
As they approached the group, they
heard Jim Irwin answering something
which Ezra Bronson had said.
"You think so, Ezra," said he, "and
It seems reasonable that big cream
eries like those at Omaha, Sioux City,
Des Moines and the other centrallzer
points can make butter cheaper than
we would do here but we've the fig
ures that show that they aren't eco
nomical." "They can't make good butter, for
one thing," said Newton Bronson cock
Hy. "Why can't they?" asked OUf Han
sen, the father of Bettlna.
"Well," said Newton, "they have to
have so much cream that they've got
to ship It so far .that it gets rotten on
the way, and they have to renovate it
with lime and other Ingredients be
fore they can churn It."
"Weil,' said Raymond Simms, "I
reckon they sell their butter fo all It's
wuth : an' they ealn't get wjthln from
foah to seven cents a pound as much
fo' It is the farmers' creameries In
Wisconsin and Minnesota get fo'
theirs."
"That's a fact, Olaf," said Jim.
"How do yon kids know so darned
much about It?" queried Pete.
"Huh!" sniffed Bettlna. "We've
been reading about It, and writing let
ters about it, and figuring percentages
on It In school all winter. We've done
arithmetic and geography and gram
mar and I don't know what else on It"
"Well, I'm agin' any schoolln'," said
Pete, "that makes kids smarter In
fsrm'n' than their narenta and their 5
parents'' mreo men.- ur meanonier
swig o' that lemonade, Jim 1"
"You see," said Jim to his audience,
meanwhile pouring the lemonade, "the
centrallzer creamery is uneconomic In
several ways. It has to pay excessive
transportation charges. It has to pay
excessive commissions to Its cream
buyers. It has to accept cream with
out proper inspection, and mixes the
good with the bad. It makes such long
shipments that the cream spoils in
transit and lowers the quality of the
butter. It can't make the best use of
the buttermilk. All these losses and
leaks the farmers have to stand. I
can prove and so can the six or
eight pupils in the Woodruff school
who have been working on the cream
question this winter that we could
make at least sis cents a pound on
our butter if we had a co-operative
creamery and all sent our cream to It."
"Well," said Ezra Bronson, "let's
start one."
"I'll go in," said Olaf Hansen.
"Me, too," said Con Bonner.
There was a general chorus at as
sent. Jim had convinced his audience.
"He's got the jury," said Wilbur
Smythe to Colonel Woodruff.
"Yes," said the colonel, "and right
here is where he runs into danger.
Can lie handle the crowd when it's
with him?"
"Well," said Jim, "I think we ought
to organize one, but I've another
proposition first. Let's get together
and pool our cream. By that, I mean
that we'll all sell to the same cream
ery, and get the best we can out of
the centralizers by the co-operative
method. We can save two cents a
pound in that way, and we'll learn to
voperatet When we have found
just how well we can hang together,
we'll be able to take up the co-operative
creamery, with less danger of
falling apart and failing."
"Who'll handle the pool?" inquired
Mr. Hansen.
"We'll handle it in the school," an
swered Jim.
"School's about done," objected Mr.
Bronson.
"Won't the cream pool pretty near
pay the expenses of running the school
all summer?" asked Bonner.
"We ought to run the school plant
all the time," said Jlin. "It's the only
way to get full value of the Invest
ment. And we've corn-club work, pig
club work, poultry work and cnnnlng
club work which make It very desira
ble to keep in session with only a
week's vacation. If you'll add the
cream pool, it will make the school
the hardest working crowd In the dis
trict and doing actual farm work, too.
I like Mr. Bonner's suggestion."
"Well," said Haakon Peterson, who
had Joined the group,, "Ay tank we
better have a meeting of the board
and discuss It." i
"Well, darn It," said Columbus
Brown, "I want In on this cream pool
and I live outside the district!" -1
"We'll let you in, CTiimb,'' said the
coionei. y
cure i saia reie. . -Wev nam'tno
more sense than to let any one in,
Clumb. Come In, the water's fine. ' We
ain't proud!"
"Well," said dumb, "If this feller Is
goln' to do school -work of this kind,
I want In the district, too."
"We'll come to that one of these
days," said Jim. "The district Is too
small."
Wilbur Smythe's car stopped at the
distant gate and honked for him a
signal which broke up the party.
Haakon Teterson passed the word to
the Colonel and Mr. Bronson for a
board meeting the next evening. The
picnic broke up In a dispersion of staid
married couples to their homes, and
young folks In top buggies to dances
and displays of fireworks In the sur
rounding villages.
Jim walked across the fields to his
home neither old nor young, having
neither sweetheart with whom to dance
nor farm to demand labor In its in
exorable chores. He turned after
crawling through a wire fence and
looked longingly at Jennie as she was
suavely assisted Into the car by the
frock-coated lawyer.
"You saw what he did?" said the
colonel Interrogatively, as he and his
daughter sat on the Woodruff veranda
that evening. "Who taught him the
supreme wisdom of holding back his
troops when they grew too wild for at
tack?" "He may lose them," said Jennie.
"Not so," said the colonel. "Indi
viduals of the Brown Mouse type al
ways succeed when they find their en
vironment. And I believe Jim has
found his,"
"Well," said Jennie, "I wish his en
vironment would find him some clothes.
It's a shame the way he has to go
looking. He'd be nice-appearing If he
was dressed anyway."
"Oh, then you haven't heard the
news," said the colonel. "Jim's goine
to have his first made-to-measure suit
for Ames. It's all fixed."
"Who's making It?" asked Jennie.
"Gustaf Paulsen, the Dane that's
Just opened a shop In town."
A Dane?" queried Jennie. "Isn't
he Bettlna'i uncle?"
"Ratherly," said the colonel Jocular
ly, "seeing as how Bettlna's Mrs. Han
sen's daughter."
Clothes are rather Important, but
the difference between a suit made by
Atkins, the tailor, and one hunt hv
Gustaf ruulsen, the new Danish
craftsman, could not be supposed to
b crucially Important, even when de
signed for a very dear friend. And
Jim was scarcely that of course not!
Why, then, did the county superlnten
dent hastily run to her room, and cry?
Why did she say to herself that the
Hansens were very good people, and
well-to-do, and it would be a fine thing
for Jim and bis mother and then cry
some more?
(T be continued)
The
Fortunate
Boy hy
UaM.Tarbell
in Collin's
UOW devoid of understanding Is he
that pities Abraham Lincoln's
youth ! It was so hard, we say, so
meager and ugly no comforts, no hair
mattress, no electric light, no free
library, no ready-made clothes. We
rehearse what we know he did not
have, but fail to see what he did have.
The real boy Lincoln was not he
who slept In the loft of a log cabin
through whose chinks the snow may
sometimes have sifted; it was the boy
who came home after a long day's
work with flowing eyes, hugging to
his heart a book a borrowed book
who did his chores almost uncon
sciously, his mind on the joy that
awaited him. What mattered It to
him that he must gather chips and
shavings to keep the logs flaming, if
he would have a light to rend by? He
had a book to read, and he read It
until sleep overtook the .household,
and then carried it up to bed that at
the break of day it might be within
his reach.
The real boy was not he who strug
gled with plow or ax or flatboat rud
der; it was he who while working re
hearsed over and over the passages
that he had read the night before,
making them ills own. It was the boy
who as he traveled the furrow visual
ized George Washington, Valley Forge,
the crossing of the Delaware, who
learned to declaim the "Great Decla
ration" a thing born so close to his
own time that no disappointing experi
ences hurl vet chilled Its noblp nhrnsps.
To him there was a quality of truth,
of possible realization In the famous
document which thrilled and ennobled
film. The real boy Lincoln was the
one who, in those days we call so
hard, carried with him a faith in the
possibility of freedom and opportunity
for all men, a faith which grew as lie
toiled.
He Is not the one to be pitied. Pity
the boy who, surrounded by all the
thousands of volumes which rehearse
the making and Interpret the meaning
of the Declaration of Independence,
has never yet caught its vision or felt
the fire of Its inspiration.
Hit Craving for Book.
He must walk far for the book
beg it from neighbors who knew him,
build acquaintance with strangers Into
confidence sufficient to borrow.-. Pity
him for that?- He had to learn a great
thing that the book Is worth tha
price any prlesv What did h grudge
.that brought him Bobby Burns - or
Aesop or Plutarch or the Constitution
of the United States, or a collection of
the strange and changing laws of men
that brought him anything that dealt
with the workings of men's hearts and
minds? .'
Pity the book hunter! What If the
chase was long, the path hard, the
footwear worn, the coat of homespun
what was all thut to him? Ik was
the quarry, not the way, of which he
thought A book in hand, he walked
homeward with the man he bad found
Jefferson, Shakespeare, Bunyan, De
foe and for days, whatever came,
cold, short rations, hard labor, Jeffer
son, Shakespeare, Bunyan, Defoe was
by his side. '
No, this boy Is not to be pitied, but
rather be who has never longed for a
book, never walked a mile to borrow
one he who when a book' Is by bis
side can keep his hands from It, who
can live among books daily, Incurious,
unacquainted.
The boy Lincoln did not read for
forgetful ness. The book was not a
sedative, a soporific for him. It did
not take him out of Spencer county.
Indiana, but rather helped him to un
derstand Spencer county. It Interpret
ed to him the thing of which he and
Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks
Lincoln, and all of these neighbors and
friends of theirs, were a part.
Read to Remember.
The pioneer life had Its excitements
and allurements discovery, danger,
hope lifted It out of the common
place. Toung Lincoln shared all this;
and the book told him, as those about
him could not, the meaning, the rea
sons, behind It oil. It traced the path
that a long line of forbears had trav
eled westward their sacrifices, their
hopes! Through the book he saw
southwestern Indiana and its people
is a scene In a great and noble drama
saw Its relation to the opening of
the new continent, the upbuilding of a
new kind of government, the founding
of something which would admit more
and more men to the opportunities of
the earth.
The book did something else for
him It helped htm to understand hu
man beings. His curiosity about them
was Insullate their wsia. hlr
Job Printing
SEE US
When in need of any
thing in the line of neat
and attractive Printing.
tnougnts, tneir' passions, tneir mean
nesses, their nobilities. The boy Lin
coln saw wide ranges of human mate
rial a few men of education; many
men of patient, steady, dally labor
reverent, believing men; he saw those
of riotous life, and not a few of men
of petty living dirty habits, physical
and mental. He shirked no man. He
was curiously Impersonal In his con
tacts with men. He sought to know
them nnd the book helped him.
Aesop, Bunyan, Burns, Shakespeare
all of them helped him understand
the men of Spencer county, Indiana.
He loved and sought the book because
of the light and understanding It gave
to life.
Do not pity him because he had no
steadier glow to read by than that of
blazing logs ruther rejoice that he
read I
Abraham Lincoln
TDlCH in the reverence of a na
tion's heart.
Thou martyred one! thou firm and
rugged rock I
Like valiant knight didst thou per
form thy part,
Despite alt envy, malice, jeer and
mock!
Dark were the shadows, deep the
grief and care
That fell to thee, heroic, homely
soul !
Belied, contemned, but now with
splendor rare
Thy fame glows radiantly from
pole to pole!
Could we our fated tasks as fitly
meet
As thou didst thine, O peerless
man of men!
Fearless the great assassin, Death,
we'd greet,
Scorning his shaft. Life were a
victory then!
A. Rosenthal in Globe-Democrat.
IT PAYS T.O READ
r
i
i
Forehanded
People
Inside of the vault of the bank are located
the individvual Safe Deposit Boxes main
tained for those forehanded people who want
the BEST OF PROTECTION for their
valuables. Bonds, stocks, insurance policies,
mortgages, records, receipts, jewelry; trink
ets, etc deserve better protection than they
receive when kept in an office safe, tin box
or hidden away somewhere.
This bank has these Safe Deposit Boxes
for rent at the rate of two dollars a year and
up, according to the size of the box. It offers
you the opportunity to keep your valuables
where it) keeps its own. Rent a Safe Deposit
Box today, for the number now vacant is
limited-
Farmers and Stockgrowers
National Bank
HEPPNER, OREGON '
Thomson Bros.
OUR STORE is head
quarters for seasonable
merchandise.
We can feed and clothe the whole
family from soup to nuts and
from hats to shoes
See our line of
Suits and Overcoats
for Men and Boys
I Only Life
i Portrait of Lincoln
4 .SwV
isiisini.au "' ii'iimiM i f.
Portrait by Freeman Thorp, the only!
known portrait of Abraham Lincoln
drawn entirely from life. The artist j
made his first pencil sketches of th
Emancipator when he stopped In Ge
neva, O., on his way to Washington
to be inaugurated. There is no photo-,
graph or painting that Is like it In posi
tion, outline or expression. '
Wide Collars.
Wide cavalier collars of white satin
or batiste trimmed with lace and em
broidery are very effective on black
velvet gowns. i(
THE HERALD ADS
r
3
!.
1 A