er a school to teach."

The very words, "give her a school to teach," sent a shiver of fear
through Clara's frame, as she lay there listening, but at the same
time she felt a thrill of pleasure at the idea of doing something so
important as teaching. If her mother was so much troubled about her
peculiar traits as to be obliged to talk them over with a stranger,
they must be very hard to bear. She would set to work to be something
quite different, and she would begin at once!

And so it happened that when Clara Barton was fifteen years old she
followed in the footsteps of her brother and sisters and became a
teacher. As soon as she decided to take the step, she was given
District School No. 9, up in "Texas village," and in May, 1836, "after
passing the teachers' examination with a mark of 'excellent,' she put
down her skirts and put up her hair and walked to the little
schoolhouse, to face and address her forty scholars." That was one of
the most awful moments of her life. When the rows of pupils were
ranged before her, and she was supposed to open the exercises by
reading from the Bible, she could not find her voice, and her hand
trembled so visibly that she was afraid to turn the pages and so
disclose her panic. But no one knew. With perfect outward calmness,
she kept her eyes on the open book until her pulse beat less fast,
then she looked straight ahead and in a steady voice asked them to
each read a verse in turn. This was a new and delightful plan to her
pupils, who were still more pleased when the reading was over to have
the new teacher question them in a friendly way about the meaning of
the verses they had just read in the "Sermon on the Mount."

That first day proved her marked ability as a teacher, and so kindly
and intimate was she with her scholars that they became more her
comrades than her pupils. When the four rough boys of the school
"tried her out" to see how much she could endure, to their
astonishment, instead of being able to lock her out of the building as
they had done with the previous teacher, she showed such pluck and
physical strength that their respect was won and kept. After that,
almost daily, at recess time she would join them in games such as no
teacher had ever played with them before. And with her success Clara
gained a new assurance and a less shy manner, although she never
entirely lost her self-consciousness.

So successful was she with that first school that it was the preface