It was a trying time for both "Dodd" and Mr. Bright as they walked
together, hand in hand, towards the school-house. The trouble was that
neither of them could say anything. Mr. Bright felt that words might
only mar the matter, and "Dodd" was too busy thinking of what was just
before him, to say a word. The master realized the situation, and
counted their steps, almost, as they walked along.
Presently he felt "Dodd's" hand working nervously in his own, as if to
break their clasp. His heart sank, but, inspired by that same power
which had so often come to him in an emergency, he said:
"What is it 'Dodd'?"
"I can't apologize," returned the boy; "I don't know what to say," and
his lips trembled as he spoke, while tears welled from his eyes.
How many things there are that interpose between us and our duty! You
have found it so in your own experience, haven't you, my friend?
"Say that you did wrong this morning; that you are sorry for what you
did; that you apologize for your action, and that you pledge your word
of honor to your fellows that you will be a gentleman in school in
future," said Mr. Bright.
The nervousness was no longer in the hand, and both "Dodd" and Mr.
Bright felt that they were about to win in the strife. They quickened
their steps, and were shortly in the school room.
But there was a trial yet, and one that I fear would have been
insurmountable for a good many of us, brave men and women though we
think we are.
As teacher and pupil entered the room they discovered the three members
of the board of education seated upon the platform. One of the number
had heard the story told by the boy in the postoffice, and had hastened
to make up his mind that "Dodd" should be expelled from school. He
hurried to see the other members, and for the first time since Mr.
Bright had been in charge of the Emburg school, this educational
triumvirate appeared, in a body, in his school room. Their presence
was exceedingly annoying, just at this moment--the very time when they
should have kept their hands off. But this is apt to be the way with
boards of education in towns of the Emburg stripe.
I ought to take room, just here, too, to say that the president of the
board was really glad that an issue had come, and that they could now
rid the school of Parson Weaver's boy. The fact is, this man was
deacon in a church of a denomination other than that to which the
parson belonged, and the rivalry between the two sects had been brisk,
not to say thoroughly bitter and almost mean, for a long time.
Anything that would disgrace the family of the pastor of the opposing
church would weaken the influence of the church itself, and the same
would redound to the glory of the church in which the deacon
officiated. I grant that this is a side issue, but side issues are
often of more moment, in cases like this, than are main issues.
As "Dodd" and Mr. Bright came in, the deacon rose to meet them. The
school was already in order, and "Dodd" went on to his seat. Mr.
Bright turned to his own desk to meet the advancing president of the
board.
"Can we have a word with you, before school takes up?" said the deacon,
drawing down the corners of his mouth and looking particularly pious
and exceedingly virtuous, as he thought.
"Wait a few minutes," replied Mr. Bright, crowding past the man in the
effort to reach his desk.
"But we prefer to speak to you now," urged the president. "The matter
is very pressing."
"I will attend to it presently," answered Mr. Bright, and then,
ignoring the dignitary who addressed him, he turned to the school and
said:
"Before we begin the regular work of the afternoon, 'Dodd' Weaver has a
word to say."
A deep silence fell upon the school at these words. The pupils all
seemed to feel that they stood in the presence of a great strife. One
naturally holds his breath under such circumstances.
Then "Dodd" stood up in his place, and the latent manhood, that had
long lain dormant within him, asserted itself. In a clear though
somewhat subdued voice, he said:
"I want to apologize for what I did this morning, and I pledge you my
word of honor that hereafter, so long as I am a member of this school,
I will behave myself."
His voice trembled somewhat towards the close, but he went bravely
through to the end, and then sat down.
Then Mr. Bright bowed his head, and said:
"Our Father in heaven, whose weak and erring children we all are, bless
the boy whose confession we have just heard, and help him to keep his
word of honor like a man. And help us all, in all our strifes with
evil and with wrong, that we may come out of them better, and stronger,
and purer, even as our Master was made perfect through suffering,
Amen." That was all!
Perhaps there were dry eyes in the room just then. If so, they did not
appear,
After a pause of an instant, Mr. Bright said:
"You may go on with your work," and the pupils turned to their books
again.
In five minutes more the hum of the busy school room was as if nothing
uncommon had happened, and classes were reciting as usual.
The deacon and his fellow-members sat upon the platform till recess,
listening to recitations, and then left; the president remarking to the
teacher as they went out, that they "thought the school was doing very
well!"
"Dodd" and Mr. Bright walked home together after school was out.
"Where do you suppose I hid?" asked "Dodd," as they walked along.
"I have no idea," returned Mr. Bright.
"I ran down cellar, and, crawled part way up the airshaft back of the
furnace," said "Dodd." And that was the last that was ever said about
the affair by either teacher or pupil.