A CHRISTMAS ROSE. 



the group of rural savages a young girl, charming 

 winsome, beautiful. 



CHAPTER II. 



' ' Mebby you 're right, Retire. I never would have 

 believed it." 



" I always said. Deacon, there was more flies 

 ketched with 'lasses ' 'n vinegar. That little Bos- 

 tin woman just tamed those 'Tater Hill boys in no 

 time. It's the best school in this deestrict now." 



" Curus, the way she set 'em all to raisin' posies, 

 and then again I dunno 's 'tis. She give 'em papers 

 o' seeds and plants, and the boys actually 

 ■wheeled dirt up to the school to make 



a garden there. Where's she board- 



in' now ?" 



"To the Lovewell's 



"You don't tell me. 

 Why, the Lovewell 

 home ain't more'n 

 fit for high-grade 

 cows, let alone 

 human critters. 

 Mebby 'tis, tho', 

 for I see Sam'l 

 Lovewell actually 

 paintin' the front 

 door last time 

 druv by." 



The deacon 

 and the school 

 committeeman 

 were getting 

 new light. The 

 school m arm 

 from Boston 

 had been a rev- 

 elation to Black 

 Ridge. Her 

 looks, her 

 clothes, her 



ways and manners had been the theme for every 

 tongue in the place. Chief among her traits was 

 the love of flowers — something they could not un- 

 derstand. 



"Posies are thicker 'n flys in August in all the 

 fields," said Thankful Sloan, "and here I've been 

 makin' out money orders to send to Bostin for seeds 

 and things." She repeated this to every one who 

 came to the post office. "And as for the 'Tater Hill 

 school'us, it is a sight to behold." 



There was no hotel in the entire township, and 

 onlj' one boarding house, and that was six miles 



came the gracious 



'The Worthies were Seated Around the Stove 

 TN THE Store." 



from Black Ridge. So it happened that the people 

 took the burden of providing a home for the school 

 teacher upon themselves in turn. She "boarded 

 'round. " She began at Deacon Silloway's, and then 

 went to Retire Hopkins' house, staying two weeks 

 at each place. Then she went on from house to 

 house in turn, staying two Sundays in each place. 

 There was a certain beautiful justice in this board- 

 ing 'round idea. The different families all picked 

 up a few dollars in turn, and into each home 



presence of a 

 sweet and 

 i pretty girl. 

 She entered 

 twice a mon- 

 th into a new 

 home, and 

 left it better 

 than she 

 found it. 



At last she had come 

 to the Lovewell's. 

 The Lovewell place 

 was not a cheerful 

 home. The most har- 

 dened summer boarder 

 would have avoided 

 the spot, even at four 

 dollars a week. The un- 

 painted house had been 

 kindly tinted by wind and 

 rain to a lovely slate color. 

 The front door would not 

 shut, and not a window 

 would stay up, unless as- 

 sisted by a stick. It was 

 fortunate for the school- 

 marm that it was August. 

 The little attic, where 

 they bestowed her, in 

 winter would have been 

 colder than the north side of a January tombstone. 

 Just now it wasquite comfortable, forthe breeze sim- 

 ply walked right through it, leaving the sweet smell 

 of the woods behind it by way of a card. 



To Sam'l the arrival of the schoolmarm had been 

 the first great event of his life. When she stepped 

 down from the stage that afternoon, he dropped the 

 wretched onion he held in his hand. It seemed to 

 him as if he had dropped something out of his life. 

 For the first time he felt ashamed — mighty good 

 thing for him, by the way ; for the first time he 

 seemed to look up, and not down. She seemed a 



