CONTENTS.
| [CHAPTER I.] | PAGE |
| A Private Lesson from a Bulldog | 37 |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| A Spell Coming | 52 |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| Mirandy, Hank, and Shocky | 57 |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Spelling Down the Master | 70 |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| The Walk Home | 90 |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| A Night at Pete Jones's | 97 |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| Ominous Remarks of Mr. Jones | 105 |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| The Struggle in the Dark | 109 |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Has God Forgotten Shocky? | 114 |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| The Devil of Silence | 118 |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Miss Martha Hawkins | 125 |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| The Hardshell Preacher | 133 |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| A Struggle for the Mastery | 143 |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| A Crisis with Bud | 150 |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | |
| The Church of the Best Licks | 157 |
| [CHAPTER XVI.] | |
| The Church Militant | 163 |
| [CHAPTER XVII.] | |
| A Council of War | 169 |
| [CHAPTER XVIII.] | |
| Odds and Ends | 175 |
| [CHAPTER XIX.] | |
| Face to Face | 180 |
| [CHAPTER XX.] | |
| God Remembers Shocky | 185 |
| [CHAPTER XXI.] | |
| Miss Nancy Sawyer | 192 |
| [CHAPTER XXII.] | |
| Pancakes | 195 |
| [CHAPTER XXIII.] | |
| A Charitable Institution | 203 |
| [CHAPTER XXIV.] | |
| The Good Samaritan | 212 |
| [CHAPTER XXV.] | |
| Bud Wooing | 215 |
| [CHAPTER XXVI.] | |
| A Letter and its Consequences | 220 |
| [CHAPTER XXVII.] | |
| A Loss and a Gain | 224 |
| [CHAPTERXXVIII.] | |
| The Flight | 228 |
| [CHAPTER XXIX.] | |
| The Trial | 234 |
| [CHAPTER XXX.] | |
| "Brother Sodom" | 249 |
| [CHAPTER XXXI.] | |
| The Trial Concluded | 254 |
| [CHAPTER XXXII.] | |
| After the Battle | 269 |
| [CHAPTERXXXIII.] | |
| Into the Light | 274 |
| [CHAPTER XXXIV.] | |
| "How it Came Out" | 278 |
The Hoosier School-Master.
CHAPTER I
A PRIVATE LESSON FROM A BULLDOG.
"Want to be a school-master, do you? You? Well, what would you do in Flat Crick deestrick, I'd like to know? Why, the boys have driv off the last two, and licked the one afore them like blazes. You might teach a summer school, when nothin' but children come. But I 'low it takes a right smart man to be school-master in Flat Crick in the winter. They'd pitch you out of doors, sonny, neck and heels, afore Christmas."
The young man, who had walked ten miles to get the school in this district, and who had been mentally reviewing his learning at every step he took, trembling lest the committee should find that he did not know enough, was not a little taken aback at this greeting from "old Jack Means," who was the first trustee that he lighted on. The impression made by these ominous remarks was emphasized by the glances which he received from Jack Means's two sons. The older one eyed him from the top of his brawny shoulders with that amiable look which a big dog turns on a little one before shaking him. Ralph Hartsook had never thought of being measured by the standard of muscle. This notion of beating education into young savages in spite of themselves dashed his ardor.