d_ made the trees, Mary Antin," from Rachel and Kitty in
chorus. "Maggie O'Reilly! Listen to Mary Antin. She says there isn't
any God. She says the trees made her!"

Rachel and Kitty and Maggie, Sadie and Annie and Beckie, made a circle
around me, and pressed me with questions, and mocked me, and
threatened me with hell flames and utter extinction. I held my ground
against them all obstinately enough, though my argument was
exceedingly lame. I glibly repeated phrases I had heard my father use,
but I had no real understanding of his atheistic doctrines. I had been
surprised into this dispute. I had no spontaneous interest in the
subject; my mind was occupied with other things. But as the number of
my opponents grew, and I saw how unanimously they condemned me, my
indifference turned into a heat of indignation. The actual point at
issue was as little as ever to me, but I perceived that a crowd of
Free Americans were disputing the right of a Fellow Citizen to have
any kind of God she chose. I knew, from my father's teaching, that
this persecution was contrary to the Constitution of the United
States, and I held my ground as befitted the defender of a cause.
George Washington would not have treated me as Rachel Goldstein and
Kitty Maloney were doing! "This is a free country," I reminded them in
the middle of the argument.

The excitement in the yard amounted to a toy riot. When the school
bell rang and the children began to file in, I stood out there as long
as any of my enemies remained, although it was my habit to go to my
room very promptly. And as the foes of American Liberty crowded and
pushed in the line, whispering to those who had not heard that a
heretic had been discovered in their midst, the teacher who kept the
line in the corridor was obliged to scold and pull the noisy ones into
order; and Sadie Cohen told her, in tones of awe, what the commotion
was about.

Miss Bland waited till the children had filed in before she asked me,
in a tone encouraging confidence, to give my version of the story.
This I did, huskily but fearlessly; and the teacher, who was a woman
of tact, did not smile or commit herself in any way. She was sorry
that the children had been rude to me, but she thought they would not
trouble me any more if I let the subject drop. She made me understand,
somewhat as Miss Dillingham had done on the occasion of my whispering
during prayer, that it was proper American conduct to avoid religious
argu