ve nine already.
Ain't--isn't that a lot?"

"Yes, indeed," laughed the teacher. "Just nine more than I have."

"Why"--Phoebe stared in surprise--"don't you have quilts in your Hope
Chest?"

"I haven't even the Hope Chest."

"No Hope Chest! Now, that's funny! I thought every girl that could have
a chest for the money had a Hope Chest!"

"I never heard of a Hope Chest before I came to Greenwald."

"Now don't it beat all!" The child was very serious. "We ain't at all
like other people, I believe. I wonder why we are so different from you
people. Oh, I know we talk different from you, and mostly look different
from you and I guess we do things a lot different from you--do you
think, Miss Lee, oh, do you think that I could _ever_ get like you?"

"Yes----" Miss Lee showed hesitancy.

"For sure?" Phoebe asked, quick to note the slight delay in the answer.

"Yes, I am sure you could, dear. You can learn to dress, speak and act
as people do in the great cities--but are you sure that you want to do
so?"

"Want to! Why, I want to so bad that it hurts! I don't want to just go
to country school and Greenwald High School and then live on a farm all
the rest of my life and never get anywhere but to the store in
Greenwald, to Lancaster several times a year, and to church every
Sunday. I want to do some things other people in the other parts of the
country do, that's what I want. I'd like best of all to be a great
singer and to look and dress and talk like you. I can sing good, pop
says I can."

"I have noticed you have a sweet voice."

"Ain't!" The child's voice rang with gladness. "I'm so glad I have. And
David, he's glad too, for he says that he thinks it's a gift from God to
have a voice that can sing as nice as the birds. David and Phares are
just like my brothers. David's mom is awful nice. I like her"--she
whispered--"I like her almost better than my Aunt Maria because she's
so--ach, you know what I mean! She's so much like my own mom would be. I
like David better than Phares, too, because Phares bosses me too much
and he is wonderful strict and thinks everything is bad or foolish. He
preaches a lot. He says it's bad to be a big singer and sing for the
people and get money for it, in oprays, he means--is it?"

Miss Lee was startled by the ambition of the child before her and amazed
at the determination revealed in her young pupil. Before she could
answer wisely Phoebe went on:

"Now David says still I could be a