Truancy

Mrs. Mabel Youmans, 180 pounds, thrust her formidable body and glowering countenance through the door of the Sandy Field, N. Y., (pop. 120), schoolhouse one day last week. How come, she demanded of Schoolteacher Mabel Dougherty, 120 pounds, that Mrs. Abe Conklin, wife of the Sandy Field truant officer, had dared to come nosing around her farm with Abe Conklin's tin badge, impersonating an officer in the house of Deputy Sheriff and Park Policeman Youmans, (who has two badges, one of them gold) and presuming to ask why his son, Howard Youmans, had been absent from school so often lately. Mrs. Youmans paused for breath. Well, said Teacher Dougherty, Howard had been absent a lot and-- "I know more'n you do!" shouted Mrs. Youmans, catching her wind. "You don't know enough to teach the children good manners. I know the law. My husband's a policeman!" Teacher Dougherty indicated that if Mrs. Youmans was going to make a disturbance she would have to leave, but her voice died in her throat. Mrs. Youmans' eyes blazed. One of her sets of thick fingers had closed around Teacher Dougherty's windpipe. The other set methodically clawed skin from Teacher Dougherty's face and clothes from her back. The fingers also doubled up and smote a blow that left lumps on Teacher Dougherty's jaw. A jury of sophisticates in nearby Haverstraw, N. Y., found Mrs. Youmans guilty of assault, battery and disturbing the peace; fined her $10. Teacher Dougherty, the jury declared, was mistress of her schoolhouse and even if Abe Conklin was the only truant officer Sandy Field could get, still he was the truant officer and his wife could deliver his messages on days when, like last week, he had a cold or a touch of "the rheumatiz."