Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. TILLIE: A MENNONITE MAID A STORY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH BY HELEN REIMENSNYDER MARTIN CONTENTS I "OH, I LOVE HER! I LOVE HER!" II "I'M GOING TO LEARN YOU ONCE!" III "WHAT'S HURTIN' YOU, TILLIE?" IV "THE DOC" COMBINES BUSINESS AND PLEASURE V "NOVELS AIN'T MORAL, DOC!" VI JAKE GETZ IN A QUANDARY VII "THE LAST DAYS OF PUMP-EYE" VIII MISS MARGARET'S ERRAND IX "I'LL DO MY DARN BEST, TEACHER!" X ADAM SCHUNK'S FUNERAL XI "POP! I FEEL TO BE PLAIN" XII ABSALOM KEEPS COMPANY XIII EZRA HERR, PEDAGOGUE XIV THE HARVARD GRADUATE XV THE WACKERNAGELS AT HOME XVI THE WACKERNAGELS "CONWERSE" XVII THE TEACHER MEETS ABSALOM XVIII TILLIE REVEALS HERSELF XIX TILLIE TELLS A LIE XX TILLIE IS "SET BACK" XXI "I'LL MARRY HIM TO-MORROW!" XXII THE DOC CONCOCTS A PLOT XXIII SUNSHINE AND SHADOW XXIV THE REVOLT OF TILLIE XXV GETZ "LEARNS" TILLIE XXVI TILLIE'S LAST FIGHT TILLIE: A MENNONITE MAID A STORY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH I "OH, I LOVE HER! I LOVE HER!" Tillie's slender little body thrilled with a peculiar ecstasy as she stepped upon the platform and felt her close proximity to the teacher--so close that she could catch the sweet, wonderful fragrance of her clothes and see the heave and fall of her bosom. Once Tillie's head had rested against that motherly bosom. She had fainted in school one morning after a day and evening of hard, hard work in her father's celery-beds, followed by a chastisement for being caught with a "story-book"; and she had come out of her faint to find herself in the heaven of sitting on Miss Margaret's lap, her head against her breast and Miss Margaret's soft hand smoothing her cheek and hair. And it was in that blissful moment that Tillie had discovered, for the first time in her young existence, that life could be worth while. Not within her memory had any one ever caressed her before, or spoken to her tenderly, and in that fascinating tone of anxious concern. Afterward, Tillie often tried to faint again in school; but, such is Nature's perversity, she never could succeed. School had just been called after the noon recess, and Miss Margaret was standing before her desk with a watchful eye on the troops of children crowding in from the playground to their seats, when the little girl stepped to her side on the platform.