l-grounds proper. Nobody objected to the stumps, however, because
they were useful as bases in the ball games, and young Forest Glen had
once raised a storm of protest when a visiting lady from town had
suggested to Mr. Coulson that he have them removed on Arbor Day. There
was a battered old woodshed at the back, its walls covered with
carvings, its roof sagging wearily from the weight of many generations
of sliders who had shot down its snowy surface to the top of the hill
behind. Near it stood a crippled old pump that had brought up water
for these same generations of sliders, and was still bringing it up,
which perhaps explained its disheartened appearance.

The Dale contingent always arrived early at school, and on this first
day they had still more than half an hour at their disposal. The boys
rushed into a game of ball, but the girls gathered in groups about the
gate to watch for the new teacher. For this one was new in every sense
of the word--a lady in fact, and Forest Glen had always heretofore had
a man; and the older girls were filled with pleasurable excitement.

Miss Hillary was to board at Martha Ellen Robertson's place, the big,
white house not a quarter of a mile down the road. All eyes were
fastened upon the red gate to see her emerge, and many were the
speculations as to whether she would be tall or short, old or young,
plain or pretty, and above all what she should wear.

She appeared at last, and the chief questions were at once settled.
She was tall, she was young, she was pretty, and she wore a most
beautiful dark-blue dress with a trim white collar and cuffs. She had
pretty dark hair, just waving back from her little ears, and shaded by
a dainty blue hat, trimmed with a wreath of white daisies. The girls
gravitated towards the center of the road, Elizabeth and Rosie at the
head of the group. Elizabeth fell in love at first sight. She had
vowed with sobs last June that she would never, never love a teacher
again, and here she was ready to declare that this one was the most
wonderful and beautiful creature she had ever seen.

As the new teacher approached, she smiled in a stately fashion and
said, "Good-morning." As she entered the school, the boys drifted
farther away from the building and the girls drifted nearer. Some of
them even ventured into the room, to see her hang up her hat and take
off her gloves. Elizabeth was foremost among the latter. She longed
to go up to her and off