"Well," sighed Mr. Tidditt. "That's settled. And it's a comfort to know
'tis settled. Still I did kind of want Phoebe Dawes; but of course Heman
knows best."

"Course he knows best!" snapped Bailey. "Ain't he the biggest gun in
this county, pretty nigh? I'd like to know who is if he ain't. The
committee 'll call the Normal School girl now, and a good thing, too."

Captain Cy was still gazing at the dignified form of the "biggest gun in
the county."

"Let's see," he asked. "Who's on the school committee? Eben Salters, of
course, and--"

"Yes. Eben's chairman and he'll vote Phoebe, anyhow; he's that
pig-headed that nobody--not even a United States Representative--could
change him. But Darius Ellis 'll be for Heman's way and so 'll Lemuel
Myrick.

"Lemuel Myrick? Lem Myrick, the painter?"

"Sartin. There ain't but one Myrick in town."

"Hum!" murmured the captain and was silent for some minutes.

The school committee met on the following Wednesday evening. On Thursday
morning a startling rumor spread throughout Bayport. Phoebe Dawes had
been called, by a vote of two to one, to teach the downstairs school.
Asaph, aghast, rushed out of Simmons's store and up to the hill to the