when the teacher, smiling at her so kindly, gave her a seat in
the--front-row--such a nice seat for her very own! and she sat down and
tried to look as though she had been used to going to school all her whole
life.

For a minute she couldn't look around or anything, she felt so queer. Then
she glanced at the next seat and there, sitting right beside her,
was--whom do you suppose? Ann! The same pretty little Ann who had been
lost on the boat. Immediately Mary Jane forgot all about being afraid and
thumping hearts and strangeness and everything and began to like school.
The two little girls had much to say about what they would do at recess
and where did they live and everything, so the time before school began
passed very quickly.

Suddenly, in the midst of their talk, a bell rang, "GONG-GONG!" Two loud
tones close together that way, and school began. Mary Jane Merrill was in
a really truly school like the big girl she was getting to be.

Ann came home with Mary Jane that first afternoon and Mrs. Merrill
discovered that her name was Ann Ellis and that she lived two blocks from
their own home and that the two little girls would no doubt find it very
easy to be friends. They began having a good time that very afternoon and
they planned still better times when Betty would be back and they could
all play together. Now wasn't that fine!

Mary Jane found that she liked school every bit as much as she had thought
she would. She liked her teacher, a charming Miss Treavor, and she liked
her studies. But most of all she liked the fun she had on the playground.
In the big cities, like Chicago, where lots of girls and boys have no
yards, the school yards are the only places were children can play. So, to
make everything safe and orderly, the school folks have a playground
teacher stay at school all the day, to help in the games and to see that
every one has a happy time. The playground teacher at Mary Jane's school
liked little girls very much and she knew many good games for them to
play. So in addition to "London Bridge" and "Drop the Handkerchief" and
"Tag" that all children play, Mary Jane learned "Roman Soldiers" and
"Ghost Walk" and "Three times Three."

Of the new ones, Mary Jane liked "Ghost Walk" the best. To play it, the
girls and boys made a big circle, then they selected some one to be
"Ghost." This person stood in the middle of the circle and everybody shut
eyes tight, very tight. Then the Ghost, while every one k