hortly in the school room.

But there was a trial yet, and one that I fear would have been
insurmountable for a good many of us, brave men and women though we
think we are.

As teacher and pupil entered the room they discovered the three members
of the board of education seated upon the platform. One of the number
had heard the story told by the boy in the postoffice, and had hastened
to make up his mind that "Dodd" should be expelled from school. He
hurried to see the other members, and for the first time since Mr.
Bright had been in charge of the Emburg school, this educational
triumvirate appeared, in a body, in his school room. Their presence
was exceedingly annoying, just at this moment--the very time when they
should have kept their hands off. But this is apt to be the way with
boards of education in towns of the Emburg stripe.

I ought to take room, just here, too, to say that the president of the
board was really glad that an issue had come, and that they could now
rid the school of Parson Weaver's boy. The fact is, this man was
deacon in a church of a denomination other than that to which the
parson belonged, and the rivalry between the two sects had been brisk,
not to say thoroughly bitter and almost mean, for a long time.
Anything that would disgrace the family of the pastor of the opposing
church would weaken the influence of the church itself, and the same
would redound to the glory of the church in which the deacon
officiated. I grant that this is a side issue, but side issues are
often of more moment, in cases like this, than are main issues.

As "Dodd" and Mr. Bright came in, the deacon rose to meet them. The
school was already in order, and "Dodd" went on to his seat. Mr.
Bright turned to his own desk to meet the advancing president of the
board.

"Can we have a word with you, before school takes up?" said the deacon,
drawing down the corners of his mouth and looking particularly pious
and exceedingly virtuous, as he thought.

"Wait a few minutes," replied Mr. Bright, crowding past the man in the
effort to reach his desk.

"But we prefer to speak to you now," urged the president. "The matter
is very pressing."

"I will attend to it presently," answered Mr. Bright, and then,
ignoring the dignitary who addressed him, he turned to the school and
said:

"Before we begin the regular work of the afternoon, 'Dodd' Weaver has a
word to say."

A deep silence fell upon the school at these w