y girl with deep eyes and a broad
brow.

"I'm going to give this as a prize to the one who stands up the
longest," said Margaret, with sudden inspiration as she saw the boys in
their seats getting restless; and she unpinned a tiny blue-silk bow that
fastened her white collar.

The girls all said "Oh-h-h!" and immediately every one in the room
straightened up. The next few minutes those two girls spelled for dear
life, each with her eye fixed upon the tiny blue bow in the teacher's
white hands. To own that bow, that wonderful, strange bow of the
heavenly blue, with the graceful twist to the tie! What delight! The
girl who won that would be the admired of all the school. Even the boys
sat up and took notice, each secretly thinking that Rosa, the beauty,
would get it, of course.

But she didn't; she slipped up on the word "receive," after all, putting
the i before the e; and her stolid companion, catching her breath
awesomely, slowly spelled it right and received the blue prize, pinned
gracefully at the throat of her old brown gingham by the teacher's own
soft, white fingers, while the school looked on admiringly and the blood
rolled hotly up the back of her neck and spread over her face and
forehead. Rosa, the beauty, went crestfallen to her seat.

It was at noon, while they ate their lunch, that Margaret tried to get
acquainted with the girls, calling most of them by name, to their great
surprise, and hinting of delightful possibilities in the winter's work.
Then she slipped out among the boys and watched their sports, laughing
and applauding when some one made a particularly fine play, as if she
thoroughly understood and appreciated.

She managed to stand near Jed and Timothy just before Bud rang the bell.
"I've heard you are great sportsmen," she said to them, confidingly.
"And I've been wondering if you'll teach me some things I want to learn?
I want to know how to ride and shoot. Do you suppose I could learn?"

"Sure!" they chorused, eagerly, their embarrassment forgotten. "Sure,
you could learn fine! Sure, _we'll learn_ you!"

And then the bell rang and they all went in.

The afternoon was a rather informal arrangement of classes and schedule
for the next day, Margaret giving out slips of paper with questions for
each to answer, that she might find out just where to place them; and
while they wrote she went from one to another, getting acquainted,
advising, and suggesting about what they wanted to study. It