A Pupil of Chestnut Ridge Page #4

"A Pupil of Chestnut Ridge" is a novella by Bret Harte, set against the backdrop of the American West during the Gold Rush era. The story follows a young, aspiring student at a remote school in a rugged mountain town, where he and his classmates navigate the challenges of frontier life, friendships, and personal growth. Harte's characteristic wit and keen observation of human nature shine through as he explores themes of youth, ambition, and the impact of environment on character. Through his vivid storytelling, Harte captures both the harsh realities and the endearing moments of life in a small community, revealing the resilience and dreams of those striving for a better future.

• Short story

								

had already called at the Hoover ranch to see Mrs. Hoover's pretty
adopted daughter. The master, on his way to the schoolroom that morning,
had found a few woodmen and charcoal burners lounging on the bridle
path that led from the main road. Two or three parents accompanied
their children to school, asserting they had just dropped in to see how
"Aramanta" or "Tommy" were "gettin' on." As the school began to assemble
several unfamiliar faces passed the windows or were boldly flattened
against the glass. The little schoolhouse had not seen such a gathering
since it had been borrowed for a political meeting in the previous
autumn. And the master noticed with some concern that many of the faces
were the same which he had seen uplifted to the glittering periods of
Colonel Starbottle, "the war horse of the Democracy."

For he could not shut his eyes to the fact that they came from no
mere curiosity to see the novel and bizarre; no appreciation of
mere picturesqueness or beauty; and alas! from no enthusiasm for the
progression of education. He knew the people among whom he had lived,
and he realized the fatal question of "color" had been raised in some
mysterious way by those Southwestern emigrants who had carried into this
"free state" their inherited prejudices. A few words convinced him that
the unhappy children had variously described the complexion of their new
fellow pupil, and it was believed that the "No'th'n" schoolmaster, aided
and abetted by "capital" in the person of Hiram Hoover, had introduced
either a "n*gger wench," a "Chinese girl," or an "Injin baby" to the
same educational privileges as the "pure whites," and so contaminated
the sons of freemen in their very nests. He was able to reassure many
that the child was of Spanish origin, but a majority preferred the
evidence of their own senses, and lingered for that purpose. As the hour
for her appearance drew near and passed, he was seized with a sudden
fear that she might not come, that Mr. Hoover had been prevailed upon
by his compatriots, in view of the excitement, to withdraw her from the
school. But a faint cheer from the bridle path satisfied him, and the
next moment a little retinue swept by the window, and he understood.
The Hoovers had evidently determined to accent the Spanish character
of their little charge. Concha, with a black riding skirt over her
flounces, was now mounted on a handsome pinto mustang glittering with
silver trappings, accompanied by a vaquero in a velvet jacket, Mr.
Hoover bringing up the rear. He, as he informed the master, had
merely come to show the way to the vaquero, who hereafter would always
accompany the child to and from school. Whether or not he had been
induced to this display by the excitement did not transpire. Enough that
the effect was a success. The riding skirt and her mustang's fripperies
had added to Concha's piquancy, and if her origin was still doubted by
some, the child herself was accepted with enthusiasm. The parents who
were spectators were proud of this distinguished accession to their
children's playmates, and when she dismounted amid the acclaim of her
little companions, it was with the aplomb of a queen.

The master alone foresaw trouble in this encouragement of her precocious
manner. He received her quietly, and when she had removed her riding
skirt, glancing at her feet, said approvingly, "I am glad to see you
have changed your slippers; I hope they fit you more firmly than the
others."

The child shrugged her shoulders. "Quien sabe. But Pedro (the vaquero)
will help me now on my horse when he comes for me."

The master understood the characteristic non sequitur as an allusion
to his want of gallantry on the previous day, but took no notice of it.
Nevertheless, he was pleased to see during the day that she was paying
more attention to her studies, although they were generally rehearsed
with the languid indifference to all mental accomplishment which
belonged to her race. Once he thought to stimulate her activity through
her personal vanity.

"Why can you not learn as quickly as Matilda Bromly? She is only two
years older than you," he suggested.

"Ah! Mother of God!--why does she then try to wear roses like me? And
with that hair. It becomes her not."

The master became thus aware for the first time that the elder Bromly
girl, in "the sincerest form of flattery" to her idol, was wearing a
yellow rose in her tawny locks, and, further, that Master Bromly with
exquisite humor had burlesqued his sister's imitation with a very small
carrot stuck above his left ear. This the master promptly removed,
adding an additional sum to the humorist's already overflowing slate by
way of penance, and returned to Concha. "But wouldn't you like to be as
clever as she?--you can if you will only learn."

"What for should I? Look you; she has a devotion for the tall one--the
boy Brown! Ah! I want him not."

Yet, notwithstanding this lack of noble ambition, Concha seemed to have
absorbed the "devotion" of the boys, big and little, and as the master
presently discovered even that of many of the adult population. There
were always loungers on the bridle path at the opening and closing
of school, and the vaquero, who now always accompanied her, became an
object of envy. Possibly this caused the master to observe him closely.
He was tall and thin, with a smooth complexionless face, but to
the master's astonishment he had the blue gray eye of the higher or
Castilian type of native Californian. Further inquiry proved that he was
a son of one of the old impoverished Spanish grant holders whose leagues
and cattle had been mortgaged to the Hoovers, who now retained the son
to control the live stock "on shares." "It looks kinder ez ef he might
hev an eye on that poorty little gal when she's an age to marry,"
suggested a jealous swain. For several days the girl submitted to her
school tasks with her usual languid indifference and did not again
transgress the ordinary rules. Nor did Mr. Brooks again refer to their
hopeless conversation. But one afternoon he noticed that in the silence
and preoccupation of the class she had substituted another volume for
her text-book and was perusing it with the articulating lips of the
unpracticed reader. He demanded it from her. With blazing eyes and
both hands thrust into her desk she refused and defied him. Mr.
Brooks slipped his arms around her waist, quietly lifted her from the
bench--feeling her little teeth pierce the back of his hand as he did
so, but secured the book. Two of the elder boys and girls had risen with
excited faces.

"Sit down!" said the master sternly.

They resumed their places with awed looks. The master examined the book.
It was a little Spanish prayer book. "You were reading this?" he said in
her own tongue.

"Yes. You shall not prevent me!" she burst out. "Mother of God! THEY

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