Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1911)

34 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE. way Big Ben welcomed the fair newcomer as she descended from the stage. While Ben was thus gallantly employed, "The Heathen" chose the practical service of relieving her of one of her handbags. "The question is, will Coyote County like me?" queried the schoolma'am, with a touch of shyness. "You bet it will," replied Big Ben, as the crowd nodded assent, "Boys, let's give three cheers for Miss " "Molly Eyan," supplied the owner of that name. "Three cheers for Miss Molly Ryan," suggested Big Ben. And the cheers were given with a punctuation of pistol shots, until the fair Easterner, altogether pleased, but somewhat frightened, at this Western demonstration, moved towards the hotel. By this time Big Ben had snatched away from "The Heathen" the lone piece of baggage of which he was the custodian; and, loading himself down with Miss Ryan's traps, he escorted her into the hotel. But the wily Celestial had picked up one of her gloves ; and, holding it proudly aloft, he followed the heavy-laden Ben in the procession. "Big Ben, him big pack mule," muttered the Chinaman. During all this, Pedro Sanchez, the Mexican, who had taken no part in the proceedings, stood at one side of the crowd with a curious, mirthless smile on his swarthy face. It was a quarter of nine the next morning when Molly Ryan, blue-eyed and buxom, appeared at the schoolhouse door to ring the bell which summoned her pupils to the morning session. But she had no need of summoning, for there they were, grouped around the door, the most adult set of scholars she had ever faced. "Good-morning, boys," said Miss Ryan, "but what on earth are you all doing here ?" "Well, you see, ma'am," stammered Big Ben, bashfully for him, "the mines is shut down, and we thought as how we'd get a little book larnin', bein' as we ain't got nothin' else to do." "All right, I'll keep you busy; come right in," invited the teacher. As they were scrambling for the door, Big Ben saw "The Heathen" trying to edge into the crowd; and, implanting the toe of his heavy boot where it would do the most good, he kicked the Chinaman out of the way. "Beat it !" he growled, which injunction, accompanied by the aforesaid pedal accompaniment, accomplished the desired end. This earned for Big Ben a reprimand from "Teacher" and an order for them to "line up." And so the scholars of District Number One marched grandly into school in true military fashion. After they had filed in, "The Heathen" came cautiously around the corner and sneaked inside, unnoticed by all except Miss Ryan, who closed the door after him, and at once began to be in earnest, "The Schoolma'am of Coyote County." As soon as Miss Ryan had taken her place, Big Ben walked up and laid on her desk an apple. At this act of boylike chivalry, the miner-scholars began to laugh, and Miss Ryan had to rap for order. Under cover of this excitement "The Heathen" managed to present to his instructress a wild flower, which he had concealed under his coat. To encourage the Mongolian race, Miss Ryan pinned the flower on her dress, while she relegated Big Ben's apple to a remote corner of the desk. Wherefore the bully sat and glared at Sam Wah, who returned to his seat with a sly look. Starting with spelling and with familiar concepts, Miss Ryan asked various boys to write the word "dog" on the blackboard. Lazy Lawton, who was supposed to know all about animals, scrawled off "dorg" as his contribution to simplified spelling and the new dictionary. Whereas Hank Wetherbee, the stage driver, chalked up "dawg" as his side of the controversy, for which he was promptly sent to the foot of the class. This brought a laugh from Big Ben, who was sentenced to stand in the waste-basket as a punishment, much to the detriment of that useful article.