terest, till reminded by their teacher that
they had lessons of their own to learn. There was another "little
recess" in the afternoon; then, at half-past four, school closed, or
"broke," as the children called it, and they rushed forth with their
empty dinner-buckets in hand, laughing and shouting and chasing each
other as they started home. Some of the little girls waited to say
good-by to the school-ma'am and to kiss her, and one of them said, in a
shamefaced way, "I like you real well."

When all had gone, Elvira sprinkled and swept the floor and put her own
desk in order. Then, locking the door, she went over to Sapp's cabin,
which was to be her home for a while.

Mrs. Sapp rose up from the quilt she was quilting, and, greeting Elvira
cordially, invited her to lay off her things--meaning her hat and
cloak--and take a chair. Mary was in the kitchen, a small shed-room
attached to the cabin, getting supper. Elvira looked around her. The
hewn logs which formed the walls were well chinked in the cracks, and
neatly whitewashed. A home-made rag carpet covered the floor. Two beds
stood foot to foot in the back part of the room, and a third in the
corner by the fireplace. On the wall, over the beds, hung various
articles of clothing,--a dozen calico dresses, several pairs of
pantaloons, and coats, turned wrong side out. In the corner, between the
window and the fireplace, stood a bureau, covered with a white muslin
cloth, the borders ornamented with open-work made by drawing out the
horizontal threads in narrow strips and knotting the others together in
various patterns. Over the mantel hung an almanac, and two
highly-colored pictures representing a brunette beauty and a blonde,
named Caroline and Matilda. Mrs. Sapp, meantime, was giving a
biographical account of the school-children and their parents,--saying
how Mrs. Brown was bound her two little girls should get some schooling,
if she had to pay for it herself out of money she got by selling eggs
and butter, and how the Sanders children didn't have any clothes in the
world besides those they wore to school, except some old ragged ones,
and how they had to change them at night as soon as they got home.

"I saw 'Tildy White at school to-day," she continued, "but I guess she
won't get to come much. Her step-mother keeps her at home and makes her
work, while her _own_ children can go all the time. The three Mays
children were there too, but you needn't care whether they co