esk was removed
to the hall, where it stood in a noisy and confusing but very democratic
publicity. Superintendent Jennie might have anticipated the time when,
during the March term, offenders passing from the county jail in the
basement to arraignment at the bar of justice might be able to peek over
her shoulders and criticize her method of treating examination papers. On
the twenty-fifth of February, however, this experience lurked unsuspected
in her official future.

Poor Jennie! She anticipated nothing more than the appearance of Messrs.
Bronson, Peterson and Bonner in her office to confront Jim Irwin on
certain questions of fact relating to Jim's competency to hold a teacher's
certificate. The time appointed was ten o'clock. At nine forty-five
Cornelius Bonner and his wife entered the office, and took twenty-five per
cent. of the chairs therein. At nine fifty Jim Irwin came in, haggard,
weather-beaten and seedy as ever, and looked as if he had neither eaten
nor slept since his sweetheart stabbed him. At nine fifty-five Haakon
Peterson and Ezra Bronson came in, accompanied by Wilbur Smythe,
attorney-at-law, who carried under his arm a code of Iowa, a compilation
of the school laws of the state, and _Throop on Public Officers_. At nine
fifty-six, therefore, the crowd in Jennie's office exceeded its seating
capacity, and Jennie was in a flutter as the realization dawned upon her
that this promised to be a bigger and more public affair than she had
anticipated. At nine fifty-nine Raymond Simms opened the office door and
there filed in enough children, large and small, some of them accompanied
by their parents, and all belonging to the Woodruff school, to fill
completely the interstices of the corners and angles of the room and
between the legs of the grownups. In addition there remained an overflow
meeting in the hall, under the command of that distinguished military
gentleman, Colonel Albert Woodruff.

"Say, Bill, come here!" said the colonel, crooking his finger at the
deputy sheriff.

"What you got here, Al!" said Bill, coming up the stairs, puffing. "Ain't
it a little early for Sunday-school picnics?"

"This is a school fight in our district," said the colonel. "It's Jennie's
baptism of fire, I reckon ... and say, you're not using the court room,
are you?"

"Nope," said Bill.

"Well, why not just slip around, then," said the colonel, "and tell Jennie
she'd better adjourn to the big room."

Which suggestion