wn the dusty
road, my heart sick with dread.

May was so much smaller that I could have picked her up and carried
her. She was a gentle, loving little thing, until some one went too
far, and then they got what they deserved, all at once and right away.

Many of the pupils were waiting before the church. Leon climbed the
steps, made a deep bow, waved toward the school building across the
way, and what he intended to say was, "Still sits the schoolhouse by
the road," but he was a little excited and the s's doubled his tongue,
so that we heard: "Shill stits the schoolhouse by the road." We just
yelled and I forgot a little about myself.

When Miss Amelia came to the door and rang the bell, May must have
remembered something of how her first day felt, for as we reached the
steps she waited for me, took me in with her, and found me a seat. If
she had not, I'm quite sure I'd have run away and fought until they
left me in freedom, as I had two years before. All forenoon I had
shivered in my seat, while classes were arranged, and the elder pupils
were started on their work; then Miss Amelia called me to her on the
platform and tried to find out how much schooling I had. I was ashamed
that I knew so little, but there was no sense in her making me spell
after a pencil, like a baby. I'd never seen the book she picked up. I
could read the line she pointed to, and I told her so, but she said to
spell the words; so I thought she had to be obeyed, for one poetry
piece I know says:

"Quickly speed your steps to school
And there mind your teacher's rule."

I can see Miss Amelia to-day. Her pale face was lined deeper than
ever, her drab hair was dragged back tighter. She wore a black calico
dress with white huckleberries, and a white calico apron figured in
large black apples, each having a stem and two leaves. In dress she
was a fruitful person. She had been a surprise to all of us. Chipper
as a sparrow, she had hopped, and chattered, and darted here and there,
until the hour of opening. Then in the stress of arranging classes and
getting started, all her birdlike ways slipped from her. Stern and
bony she stood before us, and with a cold light in her pale eyes, she
began business in a manner that made Johnny Hood forget all about his
paper wads, and Leon commenced studying like a good boy, and never even
tried to have fun with her. Every one was so surprised you could
notice it, except May, and she looked,