The minister had decided1 to preach in Ashland, and on the following Sabbath. It became apparent that if he wished to have any notice at all from the haughty2 new teacher he must do something at once to establish his superiority in her eyes. He had carefully gone over his store of sermons that he always carried with him, and decided to preach on "The Dynamics3 of Altruism4."
Notices had been posted up in saloons and stores and post-office. He had made them himself after completely tabooing Mr. Tanner's kindly5 and blundering attempt, and they gave full information concerning "the Rev6. Frederick West, Ph.D., of the vicinity of New York City, who had kindly consented to preach in the school-house on 'The Dynamics of Altruism.'"
Several of these elaborately printed announcements had been posted up on big trees along the trails, and in other conspicuous7 places, and there was no doubt but that the coming Sabbath services were more talked of than anything else in that neighborhood for miles around, except the new teacher and her extraordinary way of making all the scholars fall in love with her. It is quite possible that the Reverend Frederick might not have been so flattered at the size of his audience when the day came if he could have known how many of them came principally because they thought it would be a good opportunity to see the new teacher.
However, the announcements were read, and the preacher became an object of deep interest to the community when he went abroad. Under this attention he swelled8, grew pleased, bland9, and condescending10, wearing an oily smile and bowing most conceitedly11 whenever anybody noticed him. He even began to drop his severity and silence at the table, toward the end of the week, and expanded into dignified12 conversation, mainly addressed to Mr. Tanner about the political situation in the State of Arizona. He was trying to impress the teacher with the fact that he looked upon her as a most insignificant13 mortal who had forfeited14 her right to his smiles by her headstrong and unseemly conduct when he had warned her about "that young ruffian."
Out on the trail Long Bill and Jasper Kemp paused before a tree that bore the Reverend Frederick's church notice, and read in silence while the wide wonder of the desert spread about them.
"What d'ye make out o' them cuss words, Jap?" asked Long Bill, at length. "D'ye figger the parson's goin' to preach on swearin' ur gunpowder15?"
"Blowed ef I know," answered Jasper, eying the sign ungraciously; "but by the looks of him he can't say much to suit me on neither one. He resembles a yaller cactus16 bloom out in a rain-storm as to head, an' his smile is like some of them prickles on the plant. He can't be no 'sky-pilot' to me, not just yet."
"You don't allow he b'longs in any way to her?" asked Long Bill, anxiously, after they had been on their way for a half-hour.
"B'long to her? Meanin' the schoolmarm?"
"Yes; he ain't sweet on her nor nothin'?"
"Wal, I guess not," said Jasper, contentedly17. "She's got eyes sharp's a needle. You don't size her up so small she's goin' to take to a sickly parson with yaller hair an' sleek18 ways when she's seen the Kid, do you?"
"Wal, no, it don't seem noways reasonable, but you never can tell. Women gets notions."
"She ain't that kind! You mark my words, she ain't that kind. I'd lay she'd punch the breeze like a coyote ef he'd make up to her. Just you wait till you see him. He's the most no-'count, measleyest little thing that ever called himself a man. My word! I'd like to see him try to ride that colt o' mine. I really would. It would be some sight for sore eyes, it sure would."
"Mebbe he's got a intellec'," suggested Long Bill, after another mile. "That goes a long ways with women-folks with a education."
"No chance!" said Jasper, confidently. "'Ain't got room fer one under his yaller thatch19. You wait till you set your lamps on him once before you go to gettin' excited. Why, he ain't one-two-three with our missionary20! Gosh! I wish he'd come back an' see to such goin's-on—I certainly do."
"Was you figgerin' to go to that gatherin' Sunday?"
"I sure was," said Jasper. "I want to see the show, an', besides, we might be needed ef things got too high-soundin'. It ain't good to have a creature at large that thinks he knows all there is to know. I heard him talk down to the post-office the day after that little party we had when the Kid shot out the lights to save Bunchy from killin' Crapster, an' it's my opinion he needs a good spankin'; but I'm agoin' to give him a fair show. I ain't much on religion myself, but I do like to see a square deal, especially in a parson. I've sized it up he needs a lesson."
"I'm with ye, Jap," said Long Bill, and the two rode on their way in silence.
Margaret was so busy and so happy with her school all the week that she quite forgot her annoyance21 at the minister. She really saw very little of him, for he was always late to breakfast, and she took hers early. She went to her room immediately after supper, and he had little opportunity for pursuing her acquaintance. Perhaps he judged that it would be wise to let her alone until after he had made his grand impression on Sunday, and let her "make up" to him.
It was not until Sunday morning that she suddenly recalled that he was to preach that day. She had indeed seen the notices, for a very large and elaborate one was posted in front of the school-house, and some anonymous22 artist had produced a fine caricature of the preacher in red clay underneath23 his name. Margaret had been obliged to remain after school Friday and remove as much of this portrait as she was able, not having been willing to make it a matter of discipline to discover the artist. In fact, it was so true to the model that the young teacher felt a growing sympathy for the one who had perpetrated it.
Margaret started to the school-house early Sunday morning, attended by the faithful Bud. Not that he had any more intention of going to Sunday-school than he had the week before, but it was pleasant to be the chosen escort of so popular a teacher. Even Jed and Timothy had walked home with her twice during the week. He did not intend to lose his place as nearest to her. There was only one to whom he would surrender that, and he was too far away to claim it often.
Margaret had promised to help in the Sunday-school that morning, for the woman who taught the little ones was still away with her sick neighbor, and on the way she persuaded Bud to help her.
"You'll be secretary for me, won't you, William?" she asked, brightly. "I'm going to take the left-front corner of the room for the children, and seat them on the recitation-benches, and that will leave all the back part of the room for the older people. Then I can use the blackboard and not disturb the rest."
"Secretary?" asked the astonished Bud. He was, so to speak, growing accustomed to surprises. "Secretary" did not sound like being "a nice little Sunday-school boy."
"Why, yes! take up the collection, and see who is absent, and so on. I don't know all the names, perhaps, and, anyhow, I don't like to do that when I have to teach!"
Artful Margaret! She had no mind to leave Bud floating around outside the school-house, and though she had ostensibly prepared her lesson and her blackboard illustration for the little children, she had hidden in it a truth for Bud—poor, neglected, devoted24 Bud!
The inefficient25 old man who taught the older people that day gathered his forces together and, seated with his back to the platform, his spectacles extended upon his long nose, he proceeded with the questions on the lesson-leaf, as usual, being more than ordinarily unfamiliar26 with them; but before he was half through he perceived by the long pauses between the questions and answers that he did not have the attention of his class. He turned slowly around to see what they were all looking at, and became so engaged in listening to the lesson the new teacher was drawing on the blackboard that he completely forgot to go on, until Bud, very important in his new position, rang the tiny desk-bell for the close of school, and Margaret, looking up, saw in dismay that she had been teaching the whole school.
While they were singing a closing hymn27 the room began to fill up, and presently came the minister, walking importantly beside Mr. Tanner, his chin flattened28 upward as usual, but bent29 in till it made a double roll over his collar, his eyes rolling importantly, showing much of their whites, his sermon, in an elaborate leather cover, carried conspicuously30 under his arm, and the severest of clerical coats and collars setting out his insignificant face.
Walking behind him in single file, measured step, just so far apart, came the eight men from the bunk-house—Long Bill, Big Jim, Fiddling31 Boss, Jasper Kemp, Fade-away Forbes, Stocky, Croaker, and Fudge; and behind them, looking like a scared rabbit, Mom Wallis scuttled32 into the back seat and sank out of sight. The eight men, however, ranged themselves across the front of the room on the recitation-bench, directly in front of the platform, removing a few small children for that purpose.
They had been lined up in a scowling33 row along the path as the minister entered, looking at them askance under his aristocratic yellow eyebrows34, and as he neared the door the last man followed in his wake, then the next, and so on.
Margaret, in her seat half-way back at the side of the school-house near a window, saw through the trees a wide sombrero over a pair of broad shoulders; but, though she kept close watch, she did not see her friend of the wilderness35 enter the school-house. If he had really come to meeting, he was staying outside.
The minister was rather nonplussed36 at first that there were no hymn-books. It almost seemed that he did not know how to go on with divine service without hymn-books, but at last he compromised on the long-meter Doxology, pronounced with deliberate unction. Then, looking about for a possible pipe-organ and choir37, he finally started it himself; but it is doubtful whether any one would have recognized the tune38 enough to help it on if Margaret had not for very shame's sake taken it up and carried it along, and so they came to the prayer and Bible-reading.
These were performed with a formal, perfunctory style calculated to impress the audience with the importance of the preacher rather than the words he was speaking. The audience was very quiet, having the air of reserving judgment39 for the sermon.
Margaret could not just remember afterward40 how it was she missed the text. She had turned her eyes away from the minister, because it somehow made her feel homesick to compare him with her dear, dignified father. Her mind had wandered, perhaps, to the sombrero she had glimpsed outside, and she was wondering how its owner was coming on with his resolves, and just what change they would mean in his life, anyway. Then suddenly she awoke to the fact that the sermon had begun.
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1
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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dynamics
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| n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态 | |
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altruism
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| n.利他主义，不自私 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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7
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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8
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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conceitedly
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| 自满地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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14
forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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16
cactus
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| n.仙人掌 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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20
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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22
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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23
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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24
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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inefficient
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| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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28
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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29
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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30
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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31
fiddling
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| 微小的 | |
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scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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33
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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34
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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35
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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36
nonplussed
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| adj.不知所措的，陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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38
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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39
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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40
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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