The Wilful Wiles of a Wary School Master.

Waipawa Mail, Volume X, Issue 1021, 11 December 1886, Page 4

The Wilful Wiles of a Wary School Master.

A True StoryTruth is sometimes stranger than fiction ; and ten times more difficult to believe. But the following anecdote is true to the letter, and what makes it of special interest is that the chief actors in it reside in Hawke’s Bay, that they played their part here ; succeeded in it, and all in immediate neighborhood. In relating this story an explanation is due. The facts were told to us on a proiniso that they would not apin print, That promise has not been forgotten ; neither do we think it can bo called broken ; for the principal actor has since passed into retirement for a year and a half, and consequently this anonymous relation of his affairs cannot do him damage. Worn they not interesting and laughable, they might bo left unoticcd. But they are unique ; they shew a depth or originality which is exceptional in the average man ; the story is a gem, which wo feel it would be selfish to keep from the world.

A school master once lived in a country settlement in that vast forest which is now becoming settled by human beings, and whose mantle of trees is being torn off, to bo replaced by a more useful one of green grass and crops. The school was a small one, ami the master youthful, a man of say 22, fair, rather prepossessing, and persuasive. His limited income did not suffice to meet the continual demands which extravagence, or something, made on his purso, and his thirst is described as having been insatiable. He decided to raise a loan. The holidays being on, ho departed to the chief town, and there iuterviewod an agent. Ho pointed out that he was a school master, in a steady position, and in want of money. To give weight to the request, he added, as a happy thought, that lie was about to get married, and desired to do the thing property. The agent, himself a single man, took the bait, and gave the £,'2o asked for, on the understanding that it would be returned in in- • stalmcnts out of tho school master’s screw.

It need hardly bo said that tho teacher did not take unto himself a wife, but spent the £2O in riotous living instead, an amusement much more suited to big tastes. 'Time passed on, and tho orders on the Kduca.ion Board were duly met und tho money was gradually paid off. This, by tho way, is the most unaccountable part of the whole story.

The next term of holidays came on ; and our friend began to recall the pleasant recollections of the last jolly spree, and it suddenly struck him that a repetition of it would be rather acceptable. But the difficult}’ would be to raise another story, lie could not say he was going to be married again. Butslop; happy thought; he had it. Off ho went, and bent his footsteps in the direction of the agent’s office. On passing the threshold, ho pulled a long face and squeezed out a tear. He knocked and walked slowly in. He sat down and sighed. Tho agent’s sympathy was aroused, and ho asked the poor fellow what lie could do for him. “My wife is dead’ was tho sorrowful reply. Of course wc need hardly remind the reader that he had no wife. “ 1 want to bury her decent and I have come to borrow £2O fron you.” The agent at once complied, am oil went the schoolmaster. lie did not g< to the undertaker’s, but to the publichouses, and at once commenced a glorious carousal.

Now, everything would have gone wcl but for a chance circumstance. Tho agci happened to meet the Inspector of School and as usual fell into conversation with th; individual. “ Had thing about II What about him ?*’ asked tho lospecto “ Why, his wife’s dead.” “ Wife ! 1 hadn’t got one.” “ Are you sure of that ; inquired tlie poor victim, the truth jug beginning to dawn upon him. “As sui as 1 am that I am standing here,” pe eisted the functionary of education. Oft: went tho agent, in search of h client. Hater on in the day ho learnc that the Inspector smelt a rat, and w: going up-country by the first train in tl morning, to see where the school-mash was, as tho holidays wore now over. Tl agent found his man. lie sworo at hit and threatened, but the poor wretch w; only half sensible, bis wits being slccpc in the sweet spirits that smother one grief and drive care to the winds. II shook him up, and told him he would ha\ to get back by three train from tow This was to save his billet, for if the Ii spcctor had found him absent, on I lie l< of the wife story, there might have bee a row. Ofl' they went by the three trail tho half sober schoolmaster, and (I 'fuming agent. It was an only ehanc that of replacing the wanderer with h flock. They got hack, the schoolinnsb commenced his duties, and the agent dro\ oft’ to tho railway station again. On h way he met the Inspector, who was ratio astonished to see him. They exchange tho usual greeting, and each went h way, tho Inspector to find flic sclioo master calmly teaching his children, an the agent to return to town congratulatin himself on tho neat way in which he ha put the tiling through. This is a nice episode to have takci place, and as we said before, lias a greatc interest as it occurred in our midst, an not so long ago. Tho chief actor is no' spending 18 months at the sea side.