oys," I added. And with as much fire as I could kindle
in so short a time and under conditions so dampening, I thundered the
resounding lines: "'No, by St. Bride of Bothwell, no! Up drawbridge,
grooms--what, warder, ho!'"

"'Let the portcullis fall!'" This last command rang from the back of the
room. Perry Thomas stood there smiling.

"I couldn't have done it better myself, Mark," he said. "It's a splendid
piece--that Manny-yon--ain't it--grand--noble. I love to say it."

"Teacher Thomas, Teacher Thomas," came in the shrill voice of Chester
Holmes, "ain't it Dooglas?"

Perry was at my side, smiling benignly on the school. He really seemed
to love the scholars; but Perry is a pious man, and seeks to follow the
letter of the Scriptures, and the command is to love our enemies.

"Doogulus--Doogulus," he said. "Of course, boys, it's Doogulus."

The word seemed to taste good, he rolled it over and over so in his mouth.

"Teacher Hope says you ain't such a fine speaker after all," cried Lulu
Ann Nummler from the distant end of the bench.

She is fifteen and should have known better, but the people of our valley
are dreadfully frank sometimes, and this girl spoke in the clear, sharp
voice of truth that cut through one. Perry turned quick as a flash and
eyed me.

For a moment all I could do was to thump the floor and cry "Order!
Silence! Lulu Ann Nummler, when you want to speak, you must hold up
three fingers."

The three fingers shot up at once and waved at me, but I pretended not to
see them and turned to my guest.

"I said, Perry, that you were not quite so great a speaker as
Demosthenes," I stammered. Chester Holmes had three fingers up and Ira
Snarkle was waving both hands, but I went calmly on: "They were telling
me how beautifully you recited, and I was trying to instil into the piece
a little of your spirit. But now that we have you here, I insist on your
showing me and the school just how it is done."

Perry frowned fiercely on Lulu Ann Nummler, and the three fingers
disappeared. On me he smiled.

"It's a great pleasure to me to be able to recite," he said. "To be able
to repeat great po-ems at will, is to have a treasure you can allus carry
with you while your voice lasts." All this was to the scholars. "There
are three great arts in this world--singin', hand-paintin', and last but
not least, speakin'. I try my hand at all of them except hand-paintin',
and I wish to impress on all you sc