“And, Mr. Irwin,” she went on, “will you have the school records, so we may be able to ascertain the proper standing of these pupils?”
“I will,” said Jim.
“Then,” said Jennie, “we’ll adjourn until nine o’clock. I hope to see every one here. We’ll have school here to-morrow. And, Mr. Irwin, please remember that you state that you’ll stand or fall on the mastery by these pupils of the text-books they are supposed to have neglected.”
“Not the mastery of the text,” said Jim. “But their ability to do the work the text is supposed to fit them for.”
“Well,” said Jennie, “I don’t know but that’s fair.”
“But,” said Mrs. Haakon Peterson, “we don’t want our children brought up to be yust farmers. Suppose we move to town—where does the culture come in?”
The Chicago papers had a news item which covered the result of the examinations; but the great sensation of the Woodruff District lay in the Sunday feature carried by one of them.
It had a picture of Jim Irwin, and one of Jennie Woodruff—the latter authentic, and the former gleaned from the morgue, and apparently the portrait of a lumber-jack. There was also a very free treatment by the cartoonist of Mr. Simms carrying a rifle with the intention of shooting up the school board in case the decision went against the schoolmaster.