Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1935, Page 16

DAILY SHORT STORY-: CLASS WORK By Joan Leath. psir of legs swung HE v sat bfore two very small desks in one ‘corner of the shabby little schoolroom using crayons with gusto. Life in the first grade of Miss Burt's school was a very tense affair. Yéu either won or lost; there was no middle way. Clarence stopped waggling the green crayon over a patch of grass long enough to stretch his small, blue- overalled figure far over the desk. Susan’s tow head was in the way and he could not quite see. Yes, it was so. She had the grass done and was half- way across Jimmy Elephant with gray. | It was just then that Clarence’s world began to totter. Miss Burt was giving spelling words to the seventh | grade. The third grade's pens were | scratching busily. Then, right in the | middle of a spelling word, Susan put | down the gray crayon, clasped her| red-plaided middle and squealed three times. “Oh—Oh—Oh!" before break- ing into frantic tears. Clarence turned pale. If Jimmy | Elephant had walked right out of the | work book across the new green grass | just created for him Clarence could | not have been more aghast. * X X % SOMEBODY else had turned pale, too—Miss Burt. The spelling | word died on her lips as she ran| across the room to the screnming[ child. “Susan, darling, what's the matter? | Tell me; where does it hurt you?” | She tried to dislodge the rigid little | hands, to quiet her, to hold her com- fortably. But the child remained a crouched, disheveled little ball of red plaid screaming steadily. Clarence, ashen pale, was frozen to the sides of | his desk. Miss Burt straightened and tried desperately to think. Some almost | forgotten phrases from a text book came floating back to her. “A good teacher,” “an emergency.” Miss Burt was at the closet door. | She pulled on her coat, her boots, her | beret. She dressed Susan as best she | could. And as she worked, she spoke | rapidly to the scared little huddle of | youngsters before her. | “Ralph, you'll have to keep an eye | on the fire. It will need coal in half | an hour. Take care of Clarence,| Jane. He's scared half to death. Go| on with your work, the rest of you. If I'm not back by 4, go home quietly. See that the fire’s banked, Ralph, and Lucille, lock up carefully. Il be back as soon as I can.” * X X X SHE took a firm grip on the sobbing | little bundle in her arms and was gone. Her last admonition floated back on a dismal wind. “Don’t for- get the draft.” | Miss Burt started at a run down | the uneven road. After half a rod | she gave that up. Best not risk n§ tumble. Susan was crying in a way | that twisted her heart. What could ~—what could be the matter? The cautious approach of a car from behind made her almost drop her burden in sheer relief. It pulled up slowly on the other side of the | road. The door opened and a long | Weeping qui "~ i followed by & pro- // potrionate _length / [~ 3t gray overcoat. / “In trouble?” o queried the young \ man solicitously, P “Maybe I can nelp.” Miss Burt gave him one swift despairing glance. A stranger! She drew a deep ‘oreath. “Yes,” she said firmly, “you can. This child is ter- ribly ill. She must be got to a doctor at once.” And, ignoring the young man’s proferred assist- ance, she marched around the car and climbed in herself, somehow still clutching Susan. It might very well be her'last ride—and Susan’s. | It was a chance she had to take for both of them. Anyway, her grimness had its desired effect. The young man had not uttered a word. He looked a bit puzzled and kept his eyes on the road as they moved slowly along the ruts. Susan was quieter now, her sobs slower and déeper. ‘“She's getting weaker,” thought Miss Burt and, jarred into speech by her fear, she said almost humbly to the young man: “Couldn’t you go a little faster? She's terribly ill, I'm afraid.” * X ¥ X Hm companion looked down at the child’s red swollen face. “I'm afraid to risk it on these roads. Maybe it's not so bad as you think. Could it be—just temper?’ A great contempt for him rose in }]/nsa Burt’s breast and almost choked er. “Temper! Do you think I'd leave & schoolhouse full of children and start walking to town through this"—she Jjerked' her head toward the slowly- ite happily. | passing landscape for want of a free hand—“for a case of temper!” The young man, abashed, had nothing more to offer. He piloted the small car in silence into the town and :flenuy drew up before the doctor’s oor. The tall man in gray waited jp the doctor's outer room with his eyesq fixed on the rather shiny tips of his shoes. He did not see them, al- though they reflected triangles of light back into his eyes. He was lis- | tening intently. The sobs, beyoffd the frosted glass pane of the doctor’s office door, had stopped. The door swung open, presently. Miss Burt, very pale, appeared in the opening. She was followed by a still red and swollen, but eminently whole Susan, moving steadily on her own stout legs. The young man sprang to his feet. Two steps brought him across the room to the pale young woman's side. * Miss Burt drew in her breath in one long, tremulous gasp. “A pin” she said, and collapsed quite simply into the young man's arms. Back in the shabby little school room, Clarence, his world rebuilf by much attention and the orange that Jane had been saving until recess, contentedly whiled away the minutes before 4, blessedly oblivious to the fact that 3 short miles away Miss Burt, his rock of security, the pin of his universe, was weeping quite hap- pily in the arms of a young man in gray. (Copyright 1935.) Madrid Premier Voted Confidence. MADRID, October 4 (#).—The gov- ernment of Premier Joaquin Chapa-‘ prieta won an overwhelming vote of | confidence, 211 to 15, in Parliament | yesterday. 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