The Mountain School-Teacher

by Melville Davisson Post

When the circuit judge heard of this action of the justice, he ordered the School-teacher to be taken before that official. He said that if the justice of the peace has issued a warrant antedating the rule, he would yield to him the custody of the prisoner.

They took the School-teacher out of the courthouse and across the village street to the office of the justice of the peace.

The justice was greatly pleased when the deputy and Jonas came in with the prisoner. A good many stories had drifted down from the mountains to him concerning the miraculous cures which this man had effected, and he was anxious to see him. He removed his spectacles, put them carefully into a tin case, set his feet on the rounds of a chair and, after having thus made himself comfortable, he requested the School-teacher to explain to him in detail, exactly how he had accomplished the marvels of which he had heard.

The School-teacher did not reply.

He remained standing as he had stood before the circuit judge. His head lifted. The features of his face unmoving. His deep gray-blue eyes tilled with a tranquil, melancholy light.

When the justice of the peace saw that his curiosity was not likely to be gratified, he, at once, sent the prisoner back to the circuit judge. He took this act of the judge to be a delicate courtesy, a tender regard for the jurisdictional rights of an inferior tribunal, and he was not to be outdone. In several instances the circuit judge had recently curtailed his jurisdiction, and he had been smarting under it. This act was a friendly overture, and he hastened to evidence his appreciation of it.

He returned the prisoner, saying that as his warrant had not been served, his jurisdiction had not attached, and the prisoner was exclusively in the custody of the circuit court. Moreover, that he would hold his warrant in abeyance until the circuit court had disposed of the case.

When the School-teacher came again before the circuit judge, that official no longer hesitated to indicate his opinion. He said that the prisoner did not seem disposed to contest the state's title to these lands, that he appeared to have taken up his residence in Nicholas Parks' house anterior to the date of the order, and upon some verbal direction of the decedent; that while there was here perhaps a technical contempt, he was not certain that it was intended, and consequently that he was disposed to dismiss the prisoner.

The minister, the sheriff, the doctor, the old school trustee, under this informal procedure, came forward with a protest. They said that the School-teacher was a person dangerous to the community; that he had set himself against the authority of the state in disregarding the order of the court; that he had set himself against the authority of the county by disregarding the notice placed on the schoolhouse door; that he had openly violated the law in practicing medicine without a license; that he harbored immoral persons, and encouraged the children in acts of irreverence.

The judge endeavored to compromise with this opposition. He said that he would reprimand the prisoner, suspend sentence and release him on his own recognizance.