that such she was.

But Sadie had no doubts. Sadie, following the revival, had joined the
church, and she felt she knew where she stood. "I'd have you know," said
Sadie, "I'm a Christian," and Sadie began to cry.

Rebecca Steinau lifted her black eyes. She gave her beringed little
hand a dramatic and conclusive wave. "You're all of you Gentiles," said
Rebecca.

Emmy Lou left the group. As Animal, Biped, Intermediate, Low Church,
Episcopalian, Gentile, and possible Heretic, she went upstairs to seek
the Dictionary. It was a moment of doubt and perplexity; with labouring
absorption she and her index finger pored over the page.

"One whose errors are doctrinal and usually of a malignant character--"
Ought she to be offended?

The bell rang. The class filed in. Sadie's eyes were red. Miss Fanny
tried not to see her--her eyes were chronically red. But so insistently
and ostentatiously did Sadie continue to mop them, that Miss Fanny was
compelled to take notice.

Sadie told her grievances. Her voice broke on Heretic, and she wept
afresh at Gentile.

[Illustration: "She and her index finger pored over the page."]

Miss Fanny was outdone. She said they had better all be little Heretics
than little Pharisees; she said she only needed a few infant Turks and
Infidels, and her sectarian Babel would be complete.

That day there were more notes. Miss Fanny gave them this time. To Sadie
and Mary Agatha and Rebecca and Sally among others.

Emmy Lou heard about the notes afterward. Each said the same thing. Each
said that Sadie or Rebecca or Mary Agatha or whichever little girl it
might be, had repeatedly fallen below; that she had not for weeks given
her mind to her lessons, and she could not conscientiously be
recommended as ready for Examination for the Grammar School.

The next day, near recess, there came a knock at the Fifth Reader door.
Sadie's mamma came in. Sadie grew red. One always grows red when it is
one's relative who comes in. Sadie's mamma was a pale, little lady who
cried. She cried now. She said that for Sadie to be kept back for no
other reason than her natural piety, was evidence of a personal
dislike. She said Miss Fanny had upheld another little girl who called
Sadie a Heretic.

Miss Fanny asked Sadie's mamma to sit down on the bench. Recess was
near, and then Miss Fanny could talk.

There came a knock at the door. A lady with black eyes came in. Rebecca
got red. It was Rebecca's mamma. She said Re