Very shortly thereafter--almost, it seemed, by return mail--Hazel got
replies to her letters of inquiry. The fact that each and every one
seemed bent on securing her services astonished her.
"Schoolma'ams must certainly be scarce out there," she told herself.
"This is an embarrassment of riches. I'm going somewhere, but which
place shall it be?"
But the reply from Cariboo Meadows, B. C., the first place she had
thought of, decided her. The member of the school board who replied
held forth the natural beauty of the country as much as he did the
advantages of the position. The thing that perhaps made the strongest
appeal to Hazel was a little kodak print inclosed in the letter,
showing the schoolhouse.
The building itself was primitive enough, of logs, with a pole-and-sod
roof. But it was the huge background, the timbered mountains rising to
snow-clad heights against a cloudless sky, that attracted her. She had
never seen a greater height of land than the rolling hills of Ontario.
Here was a frontier, big and new and raw, holding out to her as she
stared at the print a promise--of what? She did not know. Adventure?
If she desired adventure, it was purely a subconscious desire.
Pages:
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76