"A BROWN MOUSE"
STNOPSIS? Jennie Woodruff
refuses to marry Jim Irwin,
young farm hand, because of his
/ financial condition and poor pros
pects. He Is InteHectually above
Ills station, and has advanced
ideas concerning the possibilities
of school teaching and farming,
for wlilih he Is ^ridiculed by
many. In short, Jim Is an off ox.
He Hocks by himself and reads
books i\nd has rt philosophy of
his own. Hut there are latent
powers in him unsuspected even
by himself and Opportunity
comes knocking at his door. Jim
is nominated *for school teacher,
.is a Joke.
CHAPTER II ? Continued.
? 3 ?
?i The president followed usage when
tie; said: "If there's no objection, it
will l?e so ordered. Prepare the bal
lots for a vote on the election of teueh
er, Mr. Secretary."
There was no surprise In view of
the( nomination of Jim Irwin by the
blarneying Homier when the Secretary
smoothed out the first ballot, and
read: "James K. Irwin, one." liut
when the next slip came forth, "James
E. Irwin, two," the board of directors
of t tie Woodruff Independent district
were stunned at the slowly dawning
knowledge that they had made an
election! I'.et'ore they had rallied, the
.secretary drew from the box the third
and last ballot, and read, "James E.
' Irwin, three."
President lironson choked as he an
nounced the result ? choked and stam
mered, and made very hard weather
of it, but he went through with the
motion, as we all run in our grooves.
"Tlie ballot having shown the unani
mous election of James E. Irwin, I de
clare him elected."
He dropped into his chair, while the
secretary, a very methodical man,
drew from his portfolio a contract
duly drawn up save the name and sig
nature. This he calmly filled out, and
passed over to the president, pointing
to the dotted line. Mr. Bronson would
have signed his own death-warrant at
that moment, not to mention a per
fectly legal document, and signed
with Peterson and Bonner looking on
stonily. The secretary signed and
shoved the contract over to Jim Ir
win.
"Sign there," he said.
Jim looked it over, saw the other
signatures, and felt an Impulse to
dodge the whole thing. Then he
thought of Jennie Woodruff's
"Humph!" ? and he signed!
"Move we adjourn," said Peterson.
"No 'bjectlon 'tis so ordered !" said
Mr. Bronson.
The secretary and Jim went out,
while the directors waited.
"What the Billy ? " began Bonner,
?nd finished lamely! "What for did
you vote for the dub, Ez?"
"I voted for him," replied Bronson,
"because he fought for my boy this
afternoon. I didn't want it stuck Into
him too hard. I wanted him to have
one vote."
"An' I wanted him to have wan vote,
tpo," said Bonner. "I thought mesilf
the only dang fool on the board ? au'
he made a spache that alrned wan
vote ? but f'r the love of hlvin, that
dub f'r a teacher! What come over
you, Haakon? you voted fr him, too!"
"Ay vanted him to have one wote,
too," said Peterson.
And In this wise, Jim became the
teacher in the Woodruff district? all
on account of Jennie Woodruff's
"Humph!" *
CHAPTER III
What It a Brown Mouse?
Immediately upon the accidental
?lection of Jim Irwin to the position
of teacher of the WoodrufT school, he
developed habits somewhat like a
ghost's or a bandit's. That is, he
walked of nights and on rainy days.
On fine days, he worked In Colonel
Woodruff's fields as of yore. Jim's
salary was to be just $3G0 for nine
months' work in the Woodruff school,
and he was to find himself ? and his
mother. Therefore, he ^ad to indulge
In his loose habits of night walking
and roaming about after hours only,
or on holidays and in foul weather.
The Simms family, being from the
"mountings" of Tennessee, were rather
startled one night, when Jim Irwin,
homely, stooped and errandless, si
lently appeared In their family circle
about the front door. They had lived
where it was the custom to give a
whoop from the big road befoje one
passed through the palin's and up to
the house. Otherwise, how was one
to know whether the visitor was
friend or foe?
From force of habit, Old Man Simms
started for his gun-rack at Jim's ap
pearance, but the Lincolnian smile and
the low slow speech, so much like his
own in some respects, ended that.
"Stranger," said Mr. Simms, after
greetings had been exchanged, "you're
right welcome, but In my kentry you'd
find It dangersome to walk In thlsa
way."
"How so?" queried Jim Irwin.
"You'd more'n likely git shot up
some," replied Mr. Simms, "onless
you whooped from the big road."
"I didn't know that," replied Jim.
"I'm Ignorant of the customs of other
countries. Would you rather Id
whoop from the big road? nobody
else will."
"I reckon," replied Mr. Simms,
"that we-all win have to accommodate
ouree'ves to the ways hyeh."
i Evidently Jim was the Simms' first
/
" By HERBERT QUICK
(Copyright by The Bobba-Merrill Company).'
caller since they had settled on the
little brushy tract whose hills and
trees reminded them of their moun
tains. Low hills, to be sure, with only
a footing of rocks where the creek
had cut through, and not many trees,
but down in the creek bed, with the
oaks, elms and box-elders arching
overhead, the Slmmses could imagine
i themselves beside some run failing
into the French Broad, or the HnJston.
The creek bed was a wl.li i-nwiug
room In which to retire 1. .>.u the
eternal black soil and level cmnlieh!.;
of Iowa. '
The soil was so poor, in cnmparl
| son with those black uplands, that the
owner of the old wood-lot could find
no renter but it was better t' :tn the
soil In the mountains, and su d the
lonesome Slmmses much more than a
better farm would have done. They
were not of the Iowa people anyhow,
not understood, not their equals? they
were "pore," lind expected to stay
"pore" ? while the Iowa people all
seemed to be either well-to-do, or ex-,
pecting to become so.
Jim Irwin asked Old Man Shunts
about the fishing In the creek, and
whether there was any duck shooting
spring and fall, i
f'We git right i^mart of these little
panlish," said Mr, Simms, "an' Callsta
done shot two buttorball ducks about
'tater-plantin' time."
Callsta blushed? but this stranger,
so much like themselves, could not see
the rosy suffusion. The allusion gave
him a chance to look about him at the
family. There was a boy of sixteen,
a girl ? the duck-shooting Calista ?
younger than Itaymond?a girl of
eleven, named Virginia, but called
Jinnie ? and a smaller lad who re
joiced in the name of Mcfleeliee, but
was mercifully called Buddy.
Cullsta squirmed for something to
say. "Raymond runs a line o' traps
when the fur's prime," she volun
teered.
Then came a long talk on traps and
trapping, shooting, hunting and the
joys of the mountings ? during which
Jim noted the Ignorance and poverty
of the Slmmses. The clothing of the
girls was not decent according to local
standards; for while Callsta wore a
skirt hurriedly slipped on, Jim was
quite sure ? and not without evidence
to support his views? that she had.
been wearing when he arrived the
same regimentals now displayed by
Jinnie ? a pair of ragged blue overalls.
Evidently the Slmmses were wearing
Old Man Simms Started for His Gun.
what they had and not what they de
sired. The father was faded, patched,
gray and earthy, and the boys looked
better than the rest solely because we
expect boys to be torn and patched.
Mrs. Slranis was Invisible except as a
gray blur beyond the rain-barrel, In
the midst of which her pipe glowed
with a regular ebb and flow of embers.
On the next rainy day Jim called
again and secured the services of Ray
mond to help him select seed corn. He
was going to teach the school next
winter, and he wanted to have a seed
corn frolic the first day, Instead of
waiting until the last ? and you had to
get seed corn while It was on the stalk,
If you got the best.
No Si turns could refuse a favor to
the fellow who was so much like them
selves, and who was so greatly Inter
ested In trapping, hunting and the
Tennessee mountains ? so Raymond
went with Jim, and with Newt Bron
son and five more they selected Colo
nel Woodruff's seed corn for the next
year, under the , colonel's personal
superintendence. )
In the evening they looked the grain
over on the Woodruff lawn, and the
colonel talked about corn and corn se
lection. They had supper at half past
six, and Jennie waited on them? hav
ing assisted her mother in the cook
ing. It was quite a festival.
Jim Irwin was the least conspicuous
person in the gathering, but the colo
^nel, who was a seasoned politician,
observed that the farm-hand had be
come a fisher of men, and was angling
for the souls of these boys, and their
interest in the school. Jim was care
ful not to flush the covey, but every
boy received from the next winter's
teacher some confidential hint as to
plans, and some suggestion that Jim
was relying on the aid and comfort of
that particular boy.
Newt Bronson, especially, was
leaned on as a strong staff and a very
present help In time of trouble. As
for Raymond Simms, it was clearly
best to leave him alone. All this talk
of corn selection and related things
was new to him, and he drank it In
thirstily. He liacl an Inestimable ad
vantage over Newt in that he was
starved, while Newt was surfeited
with "advantages" for which he had
no use. ' , (
"Jenule," said Colonel Woodruff,
after the party had broken up, "I'm
losing the best hand I ever had, and
I've been sorry." j
"I'm glad he's leaving you," said
Jennie. "He ougl;t to do something ex
cept work in the Held for wages."
"I've had no idea he could make
good as a teacher ? and what Is there
In It If he does?" . j
"What has he lost if he doesn't?" ?
?? -Joined Jennie. "And why can't he
iuake good?"
"The school board's against him, for j
one thing," replied the colonel. "They'll
Are him If they get a chance. They're
the laughing-stock of the country for j
hiring him by mistake, and they're lr- |
ritated. But after seeing him perform j
tonight, I wonder If he can't make
good."
"If he could feel like anything but
an underling, he'd succeed," said Jen
nie.
"That's his heredity," stated the i
colonel, whose live stock operations !
were based on heredity. "Jim's a 1
scrub, I suppose; but he acts as if he ,
might turn out to he a Brown Mouse." j
"What do you mean, pa," scoffed '
Jennie ? "a Brown Mouse 1"
"A fellow In Edinburgh," said the j
color/el, "crossed the Japanese waltz
ing mouse with the common white j
mouse. Jim's peddling father was a
waltzing mouse, /no good except to
Jump from ohe spot to another for no
good reason. Jim'$ mother Is an al
bino of a woman, with all the color
washed but in one way o?* another.
Jim ought to be a mongrel, and I've t
always considered him one. But the
Edinburgh fellow every once in a
while got out of his 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 Mende
ilan segregation of genetic factors that
had been in the waltzers and albinos
all the time ? their original wild an
cestor of the woods and fields. If
Jim turns out to be a brown mouse,
he may be a bigger man than any of
us. Anyhow, I'm for him."
"He'll have to be a big man to make
anything out of the Job of a country
school tencher," said Jennie.
"Any Job's as big as the man who
holds it down," said her father.
Next day Jim received a letter from
Jennie. j
"Dear Jim," it ran. '"Father says
you are sure to have a hard time ? the 1
school board's against you, and all
that. But he added 'I'm for Jim, auy
how !' I thought you'd like to know
this. Also he said, 'Any job's as big
as the man who holds It down.' And
I believe this also, and I'm for you,
too! You are doing wonders even be
fore the school starts In getting the
pupils interested In a lot of things,
which, while they don't belong to
school work, will make them friends
of yours. I don't see how this will
help you much, but It's a fine thing,
and shows your interest in them.
Don't be too original. The wheel runs
easiest in the beaten track. Yours, i
Jennie."
Jennie's caution made no impression '
on Jim ? but he put the letter away, j
and every evening took It out and read ,
the words, "I'm for you, too!" The i
colonel's dictum, "Any job's as big as i
the man who holds it down," was an
Emersonian truism to Jim. It reduced
all jobs to an equality, and it meant
equality In Intellectual and spiritual
development. It didn't mean, for In- j
stance, that any Job was as good as j
another In making It possible for a j
man to marry? and Jennie Woodruff's j
"Humph !" returned* to kill and drag
off her "I'm for you, too!"
CHAPTER IV
The First Day of School.
Jim Irwin was full of his Emerson's t|
"Representative Men," and his Car- ;
lyle's "French Revolution," and the
other old-fashioned, excellent, good
literature which did not cost over 25
cents a volume; and he had pored long
and with many thrills over the pages
of Matthews' "Getting On In the
World." His view of efficiency was
that It Is the capacity to see oppor
tunity where others overlook It, and
make the, most of it. ,
All through his life he had had his
own plans for becoming great. And
all the time he was bare-footed, 111- ,
clad and dreamed his dreams to the |
accompaniment of the growl of the
plow cutting the roots under the
brown furrow-slice, or the woosldng of
the milk In the pail. At twenty-eight,
he considered these dreams over.
As for this new employment, he saw
no great opportunity in It. He went
Into the small, mean, ill-paid task as
a part of the day's work, with no
knowledge of the stirring of the nation
for a different sort of rural school,
and no suspicion that there lay In It |
any highway to success in life. He
rather wondered why he had allowed '
Jennie's sneer to sting him Into the
course of action which put him In this '
new relation to his neighbors.
"Half the kids call him Jim,"
said Bonner.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
No woman is satisfied unless sLa
has something to worry about. 1
Grand Army Veterans Marching Through Milwaukee
LUCKY YOUNG SINGER
Llna Paglinghi, the protege of Tet
razzlnl, who was picked out of a legion
of girls whom she heard all over the
world. Miss Paglinghi is only sixteen
years old and is a resident of San
Francisco. Mite. Tetrazzini will per
sonally educate her in her studio in
Rome. Miss Paglinghi's soprano voice
is rich and warm and has thrilled
large audiences in San Francisco as
well as elsewhere. ' The famous diva
has given the youthful singer her
Dame to become hyphenated with that
of her own and the girl will in the
future be called Llna Paglinghi-Tet
razzini.
HEADS RELIEF IN JAPAN
, Brig. Gen. Frank It. McCoy, mem
ber of General Wood's staff, who has
been appointed director general of
American relief in Japan.
WON'T WAIT FOR MARY
Alllster McConnlck, prominent
young Chicagoan, will not be found
waiting at the altar again for Mary
Landon Baker, society belle of Chi
cago, for his engagement to an Eng
lish girl, Miss Joan Stevens of Lon
don. has been announced. Miss Baker
repeatedly postponed her ma'rlage to
McCormick.
Fortissimo.
"Ph wat's that noise, Mrs. Mulcahy?"
"It's me daughter Maggie runnin'
up and down th* scales."
"Begorra, she must weigh a ton."
Spelled Differently.
Wife ? This pudding Is a sample of
the new cook's work. What do you
think of it?
Husband? I call It mediocre.
Wife ? No, dear; it's tapioca.? Lon
don Tit-Bits.
{
' '. ) >
City Crowns 87- Year-Old Qu een
Here is Mrs. O. A. Oelwein, eighty-seven years old, after whom the to.\u
of Oelwein, Iowa, was named, and who lives on the property on which standi
Oelwein's first log house. Oelwein held an elaborate historic pageant Sept. 1^
when the people of that community celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of the city. During the celebration Mrs. Oelwein was crowned queen.
Columbus Beauty Again Winner
"Miss America ol 1922" (Katherina Campbell of Columbus, 0.) was acain
selected as "Miss America" in the Atlantic City contest. She is here seen on
her throne beside Father Neptune.
One Issue Dodged by Mr. Bryan
This photograph shows William Jennings Bryan at the -annual jv
in Los Angeles. Mr. Ervan refused to pick the winner and admitted
to kiss all of the 150 contestants who so sweetly smiled at him as t ^
in review. However, he did consent to pose for a picture with tvu
head o?> the parade. ,, *