e
had begun to think, plan and act for himself, unaided by their counsel
or advice.

Nor is it an uncommon thing for many well-meaning and well-wishing
parents thus to isolate their children from the holy of holies of their
hearts and force them out into the desert of their own inexperience, to
die there alone, or compel them to seek help from the heathenish crowd
that is always camped around about within easy reach of such wandering
ones.

How is it in your own household, beloved? Look it up, if you dare to!

But one day when the boy and his grandfather were burning corn stalks
in the field, making ready for plowing, the old gentleman broached the
subject of school to "Dodd," and, by dint of much persuasion, gained
his reluctant consent to brave once more the trials of the school room
and out himself again under the guidance of a teacher. A week later
"Dodd" made his third venture in the legalized lottery of licensed
school teachers. He had drawn blanks twice and he was more than
suspicious of the enterprise. He had no faith in it whatever.

But the counterfeit always presupposes the genuine, and the same system
that includes such specimens as Miss Stone and Amos Waughops in its
wide embrace, enfolds also thousands who are the worthiest of men and
women. After all, Virtue is on top in this mundane sphere; if it were
not so, this old planet would have gone to ruin long ago. Let us look
up!

Amy Kelly bad been awarded the contract to teach the "spring and summer
school" in district four, Dundas township, on this particular year, and
with timid, anxious steps she had walked six miles the first Monday
morning of the term to take charge of her pupils.

It was her first school, and she was worried about it, as folks usually
are about almost anything that is new to them and concerning which they
are conscientious. Some people never are worried, though. They are
born in a don't-care fashion; they absorb the principle from the first,
and it never wears out. Others are anxious to begin with, but grow
careless as they grow familiar with their surroundings. Others are
always anxious. They never do so well that they do not hope to do
better next time, and they would almost decline heaven if they felt it
to be a place where they must forever remain as they are.

Amy Kelly was of the pattern last described.

As her name indicates, she was Irish. Her father and mother came from
"the old sod" before she was born,