ear all through May and June, instead of
leaving in April, as usual, to help his uncle on the farm. It was
"Teacher." He was in love with her, and always waited after school,
hoping for a chance to walk home with her.

Poor boy! Black haired, red cheeked, and big hearted, he knew his love
was hopeless, for he was younger than she--not so much; but there was
Tom Howard who was also in love with her, and he had a span of sorrel
horses which he had raised and broken himself, and they were his own,
and he could come at any time--when she would let him--and take her
out riding.

Ah, that was something to aspire to! Such a team as that, and
"Teacher" to sit by his side and drive out with him, all in her pretty
flat hat with a pink rose on it and green ribbons flying, and her
green parasol over her head--sitting so easily--just leaning forward a
bit and turning and laughing at what he was saying, and all the town
seeing her with him, and his harness shining and new, making the team
look as splendid as the best livery in town, and his buggy all painted
so bright and new--well! The time would come when he too would have
such an outfit. It would. And Teacher would see that Tom Howard was
not the only one who could drive up after her in such style.

Little Teacher was tired to-day. The children had been restless and
noisy, and her heart had been heavy with a great disappointment. She
had been carefully saving her small salary that she might go when
school closed and take a course at the "Art Institute" in "Technique."
For a long time she had clung to the idea that she would become an
illustrator, and a great man had told her father that "with a little
instruction in technique" his daughter had "a fortune at the tips of
her fingers." Only technique! Yes, if she could get it!

Father could help her, of course, only father was a painter in oils
and not an illustrator--and then--he was so driven, always, and father
and mother both thought it would be best for her to take the course of
study recommended by the great man. So it was decided, for there was
Martha married and settled in her home not far away from the
Institute, and Teacher could live with her and study. Ah, the
long-coveted chance almost within her reach! Then--one difficulty
after another intervened, beginning with a great fire in the fall
which swept away Martha's home and all they had accumulated, together
with her husband's school, rendering it necessary for the yo