t away from the teacher, but
Jack generally managed to be on a line with the first nail hole in the
horseshoe by the time the first third of the term was reached. This, so
the teacher could better keep her eye on him.

It was near the end of the summer term that a little event occurred
which made a lasting impression on Jack. His seat-mate was an ungainly
little urchin who had the faculty of being cunning without being smart.
His name was "Ted" Smith, but he was better known as "Ted Weaver," for
he had a habit of rocking to and fro from one hand to another while he
studied. Jack happened to be busy with lessons when some one shot a
paper wad at one of the scholars, which missed the scholar but hit the
teacher on the cheek.

Miss Freeman was spare and angular, with a pointed rose-colored nose,
hard, cold-gray eyes, and long neck circled with a severe white linen
collar, which lay flat over the prominent collar bones. The black waist
of her dress was severely plain, with, seemingly, a gross of buttons
made of wooden molds covered with the dress fabric. The skirt covered an
area of floor space that was in keeping with the period before the Civil
War, when hoop skirts ruled the fashion, and, as the "tilter" tilted, it
could be seen the school ma'am enumerated among her personal belongings
a pair of white hose and cloth gaiters. A head of luxurious hair was
parted exactly in the middle and divided into three portions, two side
and back strands, the side strands twisted to the temples, then the
smooth flat surface gracefully looped over the tops of the ears until
the curve of the hair reached the eyebrows; the ends of the strands were
then formed into a foundation, around which the back hair was wound,
after a sufficient quantity had been properly separated for curls--long
ones for the side, or short ones to dangle idly behind.

When the paper wad struck Miss Freeman a rap immediately brought the
school to order. With a searching gaze she tried to locate the evil
doer, and her well-trained eye rested on Jack, who innocently looked up
to see the cause of the unusual summons "to order." Jack knew who shot
the wad, for he had noticed the culprit shoot others earlier in the day,
a performance which had escaped the teacher's notice and cheek.

"Jack, did you throw that paper wad?" she asked, her voice as cold and
hard as that of the second mate of a three-masted brig.

"No, ma'am."

"Do you know who did throw it?"

Jack wo