|
||||||||
Enter the Woman We are taking steps, said Mr. Taylor. Bear Creek aint going to be hasty about a schoolmarm. Sure, assented the Virginian. The children wouldnt want yu to hurry. But Mr. Taylor was, as I have indicated, a serious family man. The problem of educating his children could appear to him in no light except a sober one. Bear Creek, he said, dont want the experience they had over at Calef. We must not hire an ignoramus. Sure! assented the Virginian again. Nor we dont want no gad-a-way flirt, said Mr. Taylor. She must keep her eyes on the blackboad, said the Virginian, gently. Well, we can wait till we get a guaranteed article, said Mr. Taylor. And thats what were going to do. It cant be this year, and it neednt to be. None of the kids is very old, and the schoolhouse has got to be built. He now drew a letter from his pocket, and looked at me. Are you acquainted with Miss Mary Stark Wood of Bennington, Vermont? he inquired. I was not acquainted with her at this time. Shes one we are thinking of. Shes a correspondent with Mrs. Balaam. Taylor handed me the letter. She wrote that to Mrs. Balaam, and Mrs. Balaam said the best thing was for to let me see it and judge for myself. Im taking it back to Mrs. Balaam. Maybe you can give me your opinion how it sizes up with the letters they write back East? The communication was mainly of a business kind, but also personal, and freely written. I do not think that its writer expected it to be exhibited as a document. The writer wished very much that she could see the West. But she could not gratify this desire merely for pleasure, or she would long ago have accepted the kind invitation to visit Mrs. Balaams ranch. Teaching school was something she would like to do, if she were fitted for it. Since the mills failed (the writer said) we have all gone to work and done a lot of things so that mother might keep on living in the old house. Yes, the salary would be a temptation. But, my dear, isnt Wyoming bad for the complexion? And could I sue them if mine got damaged? It is still admired. I could bring one male witness at least to prove that! Then the writer became businesslike again. Even if she came to feel that she could leave home, she did not at all know that she could teach school. Nor did she think it right to accept a position in which one had had no experience. I do love children, boys especially, she went on. My small nephew and I get on famously. But imagine if a whole benchful of boys began asking me questions that I couldnt answer! What should I do? For one could not spank them all, you know! And mother says that I ought not to teach anybody spelling, because I leave the u out of honor. Altogether it was a letter which I could assure Mr. Taylor sized up very well with the letters written in my part of the United States. And it was signed, Your very sincere spinster, Molly Stark Wood. I never seen honor spelled with a u, said Mr. Taylor, over whose not highly civilized head certain portions of the letter had lightly passed. I told him that some old-fashioned people still wrote the word so. Either way would satisfy Bear Creek, said Mr. Taylor, if shes otherwise up to requirements. The Virginian was now looking over the letter musingly, and with awakened attention. Your very sincere spinster, he read aloud slowly. I guess that means shes forty, said Taylor. I reckon she is about twenty, said the Virginian. And again he fell to musing over the paper that he held. Her handwriting aint like any Ive saw, pursued Mr. Taylor. But Bear Creek would not object to that, provided she knows rithmetic and George Washington, and them kind of things. I expect she is not an awful sincere spinster, surmised the Virginian, still looking at the letter, still holding it as if it were some token. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Copyright: All texts on Bibliomania are © Bibliomania.com Ltd, and may not be reproduced in any form without our written permission. See our FAQ for more details. | ||||||||