 | CHAPTER III. Dukesborough tales |  |
3. CHAPTER III.
When Mr. Lorriby had sounded the depths of public sentiment,
he became a new man. One Monday morning he announced that
he was going to turn over a new lead, and he went straightway to
turning it over. Before night several boys, from small to medium, had
been flogged. He had not begun on the girls, except in one instance.
In that I well remember the surprise I felt at the manner in which her
case was disposed of. Her name was Susan Potter. She was about
twelve years old, and well grown. When she was called up, inquiry
was made by the master if any boy present was willing to take upon
himself the punishment which must otherwise fall upon her. After a
moment's silence, Seaborn Byne, a boy of fourteen, rose and presented
himself. He was good-tempered and fat, and his pants and round
jacket fitted him closely. He advanced with the air of a man who
was going to do what was right, with no thought of consequences.
Miss Potter unconcernedly went to her seat.
But Seaborn soon evinced that he was dissatisfied with a bargain
that was so wholly without consideration. I believed then, and I
believe to this day, that but for his being so good a mark he would
have received fewer stripes. But his round fat body and legs stood
so temptingly before the rod, and the latter fell upon good flesh so
entirely through its whole length, that it was really hard to stop. He
roared with pain so unexpectedly severe, and violently rubbed each
spot of recent infliction. When it was over, he came to his seat and
looked at Susan Potter. She seemed to feel like laughing. Seaborn
got no sympathy, except from a source which he despised; that was
his younger brother, Joel. Joel was weeping in secret.
“Shut up your mouth,” whispered Seaborn, threateningly, and Joel
shut up.
Then I distinctly heard Seaborn mutter the following words:
“Ef I ever takes another for her, or any of 'em, may I be dinged,
and then dug up and dinged over again.”
I have no doubt that he kept his oath, for I continued to know
Seaborn Byne until he was an old man, and I never knew a person
who persistently held that vicarious system of school punishment in
deeper disgust. What his ideas were about being “dinged,” and about
that operation being repeated, I did not know; but I supposed it was
something that, if possible, would better be avoided.
Such doings as these made a great change in the feelings of us
little ones. Yet I continued to run the crying schedule. It failed at
last, and I went under.
Mr. Lorriby laid it upon me remorselessly. I had never dreamed
that he would give me such a flogging — I who considered myself,
as everybody else considered me, a favorite. Now the charm was
gone; the charm of security. It made me very sad. I lost my love
for the teacher. I even grew cold towards Rum, and Rum in his turn
grew cold towards me. Not that we got into open hostilities. For
saving an occasional fretfulness, Rum was a good fellow and personally
I had liked him. But then he was from principle a thorough Lorriby,
and therefore our intimacy must stop, and did stop.
In a short time Mr. Lorriby had gone as nearly all round the school
as it was prudent to go. Every boy but two had received his portion,
some once, some several times. These two were Mr. Bill Williams,
and another big boy named Jeremiah Hobbes. These were, of course,
as secure against harm from Mr. Lorriby as they would have been had
he been in Guinea. Every girl also had been flogged, or had had a
boy flogged for her, except Betsy Ann Acry, the belle of the school.
She was a light-haired, blue-eyed, plump, delicious-looking girl, fourteen
years old. Now for Miss Betsy Ann Acry, as it was known to everybody
about the school-house, Mr. Bill Williams had a partiality which,
though not avowed, was decided. He had never courted her in set
words, but he had observed her from day to day, and noticed her
ripening into womanhood with constantly increasing admiration. He
was scarcely a match for her even if they both had been in condition to
marry. He knew this very well. But considerations of this sort
seldom do a young man any good. More often than otherwise they
make him worse. At least such was their effect upon Mr. Bill. The
greater the distance between him and Miss Betsy Ann, the more he
yearned across it. He sat in school where he could always see her,
and oh, how he eyed her! Often, often have I noticed Mr. Bill, leaning
the side of his head upon his arms, extended on the desk in front
of him, and looking at her with a countenance which, it seemed to me,
ought to make some impression. Betsy Ann received it all as if it was
no more than she was entitled to, but showed no sign whether she set
any value upon the possession or not. Mr. Bill hoped she did; the
rest of us believed she did not.
Mr. Bill had another ambition, which was, if possible, even higher
of the greatness of Dukesborough, and the distinction of being a
resident within it, he had long desired to go there as a clerk in a store.
He had made repeated applications to be taken in by Messrs. Bland
& Jones, and it was in obedience to a hint from these gentlemen that
he had determined to take a term of finishing off at the school of Mr.
Lorriby. This project was never out of his mind, even in moments of
his fondest imaginings about Miss Betsy Ann. It would have been not
easy to say which he loved the best. The clerkship seemed to become
nearer and nearer after each Saturday's visit to town, until at last he
had a distinct offer of the place. The salary was small, but he waived
that consideration in view of the exaltation of the office and the greatness
of living in Dukesborough. He accepted, to enter upon his
duties in four weeks, when the quarter session of the school would
expire.
The dignified ways of Mr. Bill after this made considerable impression
upon all the school. Even Betsy Ann condescended to turn her
eyes oftener in the direction where he happened to be, and he was
almost inclined to glory in the hope that the possession of one dear
object would draw the other along with it. At least he felt that if he
should lose the latter, the former would be the highest consolation
which he could ask. The news of the distinguished honor that had
been conferred upon him reached the heads of the school early on the
Monday following the eventful Saturday when the business was done.
I say heads, for of late Mrs. Mehitable and old Kate came almost
every day. Mrs. Lorriby received the announcement without emotion.
Mr. Lorriby, on the other hand, in spite of the prospect of losing a
scholar, was almost extravagant in his congratulations.
“It was a honor to the whole school,” he said. “I feels it myself.
Sich it war under all the circumstances. It was obleeged to be, and
sich it war, and as it war sich, I feels it myself.”
Seaborn Byne heard this speech. Immediately afterwards he turned
to me and whispered the following comment:
“He be dinged! the decateful old son-of-a-gun!”
| CHAPTER III. Dukesborough tales | |