ed himself,
"and still I must tell it to you,--and let you laugh over a recent
experience I have had with a pair of lovers.

"You may be sure that I have lectured most earnestly and scientifically
upon the evils of tobacco and liquor for the young, and also have set
forth as tactfully and convincingly as I know how the fact that a
school is not the place for lover-like attentions, beseeching them to
give themselves wholly to the business of acquiring knowledge while
they are here, with all the eloquence of which I am capable. But, in
spite of this, as I was leaving my recitation room at the close of
school a few days ago I noticed a girl, Alice Tomby, lingering with Joe
Mott, one of her admirers, and stepping outside I found another admirer
of hers standing beneath a near-by tree, with clenched fist and
blazing eyes.

"I knew that a typical mountain tragedy was quite possible and
stopping casually a moment to look at my watch, I turned and went back
to find the girl and her beau in a most lover-like attitude.

"I threw my shoulders out to their broadest, and walked with all the
dignity I could summon to my desk where I stood before them a moment
in silence. Their sheepish faces were a study for the cartoonist, and
I wanted to laugh more than I can tell you, but I finally said
gravely:

"'Miss Tomby and Mr. Mott' (the use of the last name with Mr. or Miss,
which is unusual in the mountains, is always most impressive), 'you
are guilty of breaking a rule of the school. You must remain and write
twenty times each the sentence I shall put upon the board.'

"Then an old song came suddenly into my mind and I wrote without
quiver of lash or hint of smile the silly lines:

"'Frog went courting, he did ride,
Sword and pistol by his side.'

"'That!' said the fellow, looking startled, while the girl hung her
head.

"'Yes, that,' I replied in perfect seriousness. And the two wrote the
lines under my most calm, most dignified eye till they were thoroughly
disgusted with themselves and one another. When at last they went out,
the girl tossed her head and ignored both her crestfallen and her
jealous lover. With books under her arm she went alone straightway to
the boarding hall.

"The story of the discomfited lovers is spreading in the school, and
the quotation of 'Frog went courting, he did ride,' hilariously given
is quenching the ardour of many an amorous swain. Possibly a little
wh