Children.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1629, 5 October 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sandy's Conscience.

Sandy was a playing truant. It was not the firbfc time Sandy had played truant, nor clid be mean itiobe tho last. " Playing hookey " ha oalled it, and con* sidered it great fun. Groat fun.to roost on a safely distant tree and laugh at the boys who were indoors BtudyiDg. Greater fun to n* ah for trout in a well-known brook ; bat greatest fun of all to come to school the next day and be threatened with unheard-of punishment if such a thing happened again. That is, it always had been with the old teacher, but Sandy.hearing tho n6w teacher's clear, decided voice calling him from the doorway of the schcolhouse, felt a slight misgiving. He was not quite sure — but he was going to try it, anyway. Ho " guessed he dared, if anybody did," and so he curled up closer in the foliage of the tree, and made not a sound in answer. A very funny bunch he mada there among green leavea — not a whole garment on him, all rags and tatters. But he minded , tbig falling to pieces not a particle. He had been a bundle of rags and tatters ever since he oould rerrsercbt r,and he had grown used to the state. His buttonless jacket troubled him no more than the rough words flung at him by a miserable father. Hard knocks and ecant j clothing were veiy much alike to him — ha j took them because he had to. Thero was no way out' of it. The new teacher had jostled this iJca sotaowhat, not much, for il was very firmly lodged, but Btill, a little. Ass girl, she was very different from anybody Sandy knew, and as a tsacher she bad worked a great many eij&MgCß. Vor one ihing, she bad »aquised afaoui Sandy's people, »cd had gono to see them just out of more frientlliaeßO. The other teachars had waited until Sandy's wickedness had sent them thero with a long Btring of oomplain'ts. Mere surprisisg still, tha new teaoher called her little raga'uullia pupil by hia real name, which v.-as Charles, and Eeoraed to take as much interest in big lessons as in those oi the cth&r scholars. She had a firm, brown hand, too, ho had noticed. Thinking of thoea things, Charles Augustus Eaiiey— otherwise Sandy — waa not wholly elated over his proposed truancy. Siillit was a regularly jolly day and he — " but ha want skeerad o' no one ?" So he got down from his perch, shouldered his fiskiag-pole, and trudged off. The hours of the sunny day stapped by q:ickly. Luck seemed to have deserted the dirty -faced littlo truant, and the afternoon was well along bafora he had more than two or three troui to show for his labor. Tired at Isat cf winding hia way safely along sue Hans, fca looKea tor a tree to olimft. sla bsw one oiDSßfifreTß ibe river was spanned by a bridge, 16 leaned a little over the \sates, and looked sathar old, bat dating was otia thing Sandy primed himstU on, and he etraightway rcado ready to climb tha tree. Up tho trunk he scrambled, and out upon a limb. Bat all at onco he heard a crash say? tho eky and clouds shoot away, and then felt a cold dash of water over him. The limb had broken and ha had fallen upon the reeky bottom of the nvar. W;fch a gasp for breath he realised what hud happened, and tried to scramble out. But the first movotoent rcado Liui grcan,and the second oonvinood him tbaS something serious had happened to Hn ankle. The heavy lisib lay across ona leg in each a manner that it- was impossible to move without bringing back those eharp pimp. Sandy wbb in a hard place. Half ia thß water,half on an uneven vock,he w&a htld fast a prisoner. And the iojared ankle waa beginning to throb fast ana furioue. Ho sought the road with wistful ayea. Somebody 'might go by, but more likely than not no oce would for days. It was an old road and little used, j Silout, with teeth tightly shut, Sandy held out for what seemed the longest hali hour in his life. Then he could stand i$ no longer. It went terribly against his idea of pluck to call for help, but is raii3t be dons. Tho pain wa3 roore than lis coaid endare. There was a iarmliottse op in ibe fields, sc-uiefrlssrs, perhaps it liq c&Med help would cooie, He raised himself &3 mush as ho could, and shouted intiily : " Help! help 1" Bui; no answer csrao back to him, and again he shouted, ibis time with genuine terror ia his vcics. What i? nobody should hoar him. It was a dreadful thought, but it had hardly formed in hia mind when from tha road thero sounded a clear, ringing answer. " Where aro yen ?" tho voice called. *' I I am coming — hold on I" ' Even in hia piin Sandy knew it was the [ teaoher, and something like anger filled hia iHst-beatiag heart. Us would almost rather lie there all night thaa hav-3 this girl help him. She would preach to him acd tell ell the fellows how aha had found him. His eyes grew black with something besides pain. But before ha oould form any rough words the slender figure wa3 on the rook beside him. ••Ire still," eho said gently, " uctil I raise this limo— thea Bcx&mbia out &3 quickly aa you oaD." Putting her shoulder under the upper part of the limb, tho teacher raised it slowly and steadily. " Naff?, out quickly 1" sho commanded. With a Bmotheied groan Sandy obeyed. Then the tree dropped back with a dull thud, and the palo face turned toward the boy told how great the strain had been. •'You're all right now," she said cheerfully, "but you osn'i walk home. Wait ' while I get hslp. I won't be gene long." Sitting on the bank with his ankle swelling rapidly, Sandy oould do nothing else. Ho had been rsecued by a girl, and a teaoher at that, and when be was playing " hookey " from her, tool It was a humiliating I thought, but why hadn't she preached? She would probably when Bhe came baok. Ha : wished she'd hurry and get over with it. j When he saw her coming down tho road alone in a fai'in-waggcn, ho brae ad himself. But Dha helped him up without a woid 6! preaching, and as they drove along the siill country sho utiered no word of reproof. She told a funny story or two, and gave a ready shoulder when the pain made him faint. Never a word about school, never a word about th£ warning his mishap should be to him, never a word about telling tho fellows. Between the twinges Sandy pondered, end soomet'uiog inaide him awoke— {something that had never troubled him before. It mado him strangely still and submissive. He let the teacher help him down from tho waggon when they reached the hovel he called home, and offered no opposition to the arm that supported him into the house. There was a strange lump in his throat whioh held him silent. When the ankle had been attended to, when the accident had been ezplaioed without the slightest allusion to truancy, when the kind gray eyes looked at him in saying good-bye, then he fouud his roice. He drew the bending be&a close down to hia own curly one, " I won't play ' hookey ' again, 'cause you aia'fc told tha folks, an 1 1 guess you ain't goin' to tell the fellows at school," That was just the beginning. Under the rags there had lain a oonscienoo all these years only waiting for that gentle hand to waken it. The mischievous, law-defying truant grew up a courageous, manly boy. Not in one term of school, nor in one year, for even when awake this consoienca had many things to unlearn aB well as learn. And bad habits are not easily broken, but heroio Sandy left them behind him. Now that he is a man he sometimes sees ho brave little woman who rescued hiaa t and he never fails to say with a laugh : "It was because you diln't preach, and didn't teU the fellows,"