e last day of school, Miss Mussell came in, and, with the
three little girls standing on the platform and following every move
with their eyes as a dog watches his master, she gave the caster to Miss
Crutchet and Miss Crutchet cried, she was so surprised. They were tears
of joy, she said. After that, she went into Miss Munsell's room, and
three little girls in there gave Miss Mussell a copy of Tennyson's poems
that cost exactly $2.53, which was what Miss Crutchet had collected, and
Miss Mussell cried because she was so surprised. How they could guess
that she wanted a copy of Tennyson's poems, she couldn't think, but
she would always keep the book and prize it because her dear pupils had
given it to her. And just as Selma Morgenroth called out to the monitor,
Charley Freer, who sat in Miss Crutchers chair, while she was absent:
"Teacher! Make Miky Ryan he should ka-vit a-pullin' at my hair yet!" and
the school was laughing because she called Charley Freer "teacher," in
came Miss Crutchet as cross as anything, and boxed Miky Ryan's ears
and shook Selma Morgenroth for making so much noise. They didn't give
anything, though they promised they would.

It was not alone in the day schools that there were extra preparations.
The Sunday-schools were getting ready, too, and when Janey Pettit came
home and told her Pa how big her class was, he started to say something,
but her Ma shook her head at him and he looked very serious and seemed
to be trying hard not to smile. He was very much interested, though,
when she told him that Iky Morgenroth, whose father kept the One-Price
Clothing House down on Main Street, had joined, and how he didn't know
enough to take his hat off when he came into church. Patsy Gubbins and
Miky Ryan and six boys from the Baptist Sunday-School had joined, too,
and they all went into Miss Sarepta Downey's class, so that she had two
whole pews full to teach, and they acted just awful. The infant
class was crowded, and there was one little boy that grabbed for the
collection when it was passed in front of him, and got a whole handful
and wouldn't give it up, and they had to twist the money out of his
fist, and he screamed and "hollered" like he was being killed. And
coming home, Sophy Perkins, who goes to the Baptist Church, told
her that there wasn't going to be any Christmas tree at their
Sabbath-school. She said that there wasn't hardly anybody out. The
teachers just sat round and finally went into the pas