ck of her apron.

The teacher began to turn forward sheet after sheet of the chart, until
the first page was before him. It depicted a figure in silk hat, long
coat, and light trousers, promenading with a cane in his hand and a dog
at his heels. Underneath were two lines of simple words, and two
inquiring sentences. The teacher picked up a long cottonwood stick and
pointed it first at the man and then at the dog.

"What is that?" he said.

"A man," answered the little girl.

"And that?"

"A dog."

"Now read after me," he went on, indicating a word, "'M-a-n, man.'"

She paused a moment, her lips pressed tightly together.

"Read, read, read!" commanded the teacher, whacking the chart with a
pointer.

"'M-a-n, man,'" repeated the little girl, her eyes on his face.

"Don't look at me," he scolded; "look at the chart."

"I don't haf' to," said the little girl, earnestly; "I--I--"

Something unpleasant would certainly have happened at that moment, had
not "Frenchy," deep in his geography lesson, piped up at the teacher
from the rear of the room.

"T-a-n-g-a-n-y-i-k-a," he spelled, snapping his fingers and waving his
arm. "Wot eez dat?"

For a moment the teacher was silent, scowling down at the little girl.
Then he came back to the chart with another whack of the pointer. "Call
it Moses," he growled.

"Mozez," repeated "Frenchy," resignedly, but with a shake of his head
over the intricacies of the English language.

The little girl had twisted half around to look at a Dutch child, and
the teacher, angry because he had neglected to look over the geography
lesson, jerked her into place again by her sleeve. "Now, you read," he
said; "look at the end of my pointer and read."

"I can read them words 'thout looking at 'em," she protested, pointing
at an inquiring line, "'cause I can read everyfing in this." And she
held up the Second Reader.

"Huh!" grunted the teacher, taking the book from her and tossing it upon
his table. "Have you ever been to school before?"

"No," answered the little girl.

"Then you'll start right in where everybody else does," he said. "Read
this line. 'Do you see a man?'"

"'Doyouseeaman?'" she repeated, still watching him.

"Look at the chart and read it," he commanded furiously.

An unfriendly light suddenly shone in the little girl's eyes. She
stepped back and summoned all her pride to resent the indignity that he
was putting upon her before the whole school.

"Oh, I don't