"that Lizzie Gordon's
got that awful lookin' pinny on. Mrs. Jarvis 'll be ashamed of her.
And her hair ain't curled even."

"She can beat anybody in the school at speakin' a dialogue, anyhow,"
declared Rosie loyally. "And Martha Ellen's goin' to dress her up in
long clothes anyway, so it don't matter."

The concert was going steadily on, each performer showing signs of the
epidemic of excitement that the arrival of the town visitors had
produced. Lottie Price stopped short three times in reciting "Curfew
must not ring to-night," and had to be helped from behind the sheets by
Miss Hillary. No one felt very sorry, for, as Teenie Robertson said,
"Lottie Price was just showing off, anyhow, and it served her right."
But everyone else seemed to go wrong from the moment the strangers were
announced, and to Elizabeth's dismay even poor Rosie did not escape.

The programme partook largely of a temperance sentiment, and Rosie's
song was "Father, dear father, come home with me now," a selection
which at the practices had almost moved the spectators to tears. Joel
Davis, because he was the biggest boy in the school, and hadn't
anything to do but sit still, acted the part of Rosie's father. He sat
at a table with three or four companions, all arrayed in rags, and
drank cold tea from a vinegar jar. Rosie came in, and taking Joel by
the sleeve, sang:

"_Father, dear father, come home with me now,
The clock in the steeple strikes one,
You said you were coming right home from the shop,
As soon as your day's work was done._"

Then from behind the curtain some of the bigger girls, led by Martha
Ellen Robertson, sang softly:

"_Come home, come home,
Please, father, dear father, come home._"

Rosie sang another verse at two o'clock, and still another at three,
singing the hands right round to twelve, and still the obdurate Joel
sat immovable and still drank tea.

It had been considered, even by Miss Hillary, one of the best pieces on
the programme, and Elizabeth was almost as excited over it as she was
over her dialogue. And to-night Rosie looked so beautiful in her white
dress and pink bow that Elizabeth felt sure Mrs. Jarvis would think her
the sweetest, dearest girl in the whole wide world.

But what was the dismay of all the singer's friends, and the rage and
humiliation of the singer's mother, when she emerged from Miss
Hillary's hands and stood before the audience! All her glory of sash
and beads