time to write that composition on the "Father of
His Country." Indeed, Miss Andrews should have had a collection of
wonderfully good biographical papers handed in by her class on that
Monday morning.

But Tess's was not all that might be desired as a sketch of George
Washington's life, and the teacher told her so. Still, she did better
with her subject than Sadie Goronofsky did with hers.

Sadie had been given Longfellow to write about, and Miss Andrews showed
the composition to Agnes' teacher as an example of what could be done in
the line of disseminating _mis_information about the Dead and the Great.
Miss Shipman allowed Agnes to read it.

"Longfellow was a grand man; he wrote both poems and poetry. He
graduated at Bowdoin and afterward taught in the same school where
he graduated. He didn't like teaching and decided to learn some
other trade, so his school furnished him money to go to Europe and
learn to be a poet. After that he wrote many beautiful rhymes for
children. He wrote 'Billy, the Blacksmith,' and Hiwater, what I
seen in a pitcher show."

"Well, Sadie maybe doesn't know much about poets," said Tess,
reflectively, when she heard her older sisters laughing about the funny
composition. "But she knows numbers, and can multiply and divide. But
then, Maria Maroni can make change at her father's stand, and she told
Miss Andrews of all the holidays, she liked most the Fourth of July,
because that was when America was discovered. Of course _that_ isn't
so," concluded Tess.

"When was it discovered?" asked Ruth.

"Oh, I know! I know!" cried Dot, perilously balancing a spoonful of mush
and milk on the way to her mouth, in midair. "It was in 1492 at
Thanksgiving time, and the Pilgrim Fathers found it first. So they
called it Plymouth Rock--and you've got some of their hens in your
hen-yard, Ruthie."

"My goodness!" gasped Agnes, after she had laughed herself almost out of
her chair over this. "These primary minds are like sieves, aren't they?
All the information goes through, while the mis-information sticks."

"Huh!" said Tess, vexed for the moment. "You needn't say anything,
Aggie. You told us George Washington was born in 1778 and teacher gave
me a black mark on _that_."

As that week progressed and the cold weather continued, a really
wonderful structure was raised on the Parade Ground opposite the main
door of the Milton High School. The boys called it the snow castl