THE ARRIVAL OF MISS SPENCER There was a considerable period when events of importance in Glencaid's history were viewed against the background of the opening of its first school.

This was not entirely on account of the deep interest manifested in the cause of higher education by the residents, but owing rather to the personality of the pioneer school-teacher, and the deep, abiding impress which she made upon the community.
Miss Phoebe Spencer came direct to Glencaid from the far East, her starting-point some little junction place back in Vermont, although she proudly named Boston as her home, having once visited in that metropolis for three delicious weeks.

She was of an ardent, impressionable nature.

Her mind was nurtured upon Eastern conceptions of our common country, her imagination aglow with weird tales of the frontier, and her bright eyes perceived the vivid coloring of romance in each prosaic object west of the tawny Missouri.

All appeared so different from that established life to which she had grown accustomed,--the people, the country, the picturesque language,--while her brain so teemed with lurid pictures of border experiences and heroes as to reveal romantic possibilities everywhere.