st dishes, and make the beds before any one is
up in the house," she had ample leisure to watch and report the
proceedings of the new teacher. Now Mrs. Perkins's clock was like its
mistress, always half an hour in advance of the true time and Mary had
scarcely taught a week ere Mr. Knight, "the committee man," was duly
hailed in the street, and told that the 'school-marm wanted lookin'
to, for she didn't begin no mornin' till half-past nine, nor no
afternoon till half past one! "Besides that," she added, "I think she
gives 'em too long a play spell. Any ways, seem's ef some on em was
out o'door the hull time."

Mr. Knight had too much good sense to heed the widow's complaints, and
he merely replied, "I'm glad on't. Five hours is enough to keep little
shavers cramped up in the house,--glad on't."

The widow, thus foiled in her attempts at making disturbance, finally
gave up the strife, contenting herself with quizzing the older girls,
and asking them if Mary could do all the hard sums in Arithmetic, or
whether she took them home for Mrs. Mason to solve! Old leathern-bound
Daboll, too, was brought to light, and its most difficult problems
selected and sent to Mary, who, being an excellent mathematician,
worked them all out to the widow's astonishment. But when it was known
that quill pens had been discarded, and steel ones substituted in
their place, Mrs. Perkins again looked askance, declaring that Mary
couldn't make a quill pen, and by way of testing the matter, Sally Ann
was sent across the road with a huge bunch of goose quills, which
"Miss Howard" was politely requested "to fix, as ma wanted to write
some letters."

Mary candidly confessed her ignorance, saying she had never made a pen
in her life; and the next Sabbath the widow's leghorn was missed from
its accustomed pew in the Unitarian church, and upon inquiry, it was
ascertained that "she couldn't in conscience hear a man preach who
would give a 'stifficut' to a girl that didn't know how to make a
pen!"

In spite, however, of these little annoyances, Mary was contented and
happy. She knew that her pupils loved her and that the greater part of
the district were satisfied, so she greeted the widow with her
pleasantest smile, and by always being particularly polite to Sally
Ann, finally overcame their prejudices to a considerable extent.

One afternoon about the middle of July, as Mrs. Perkins was seated by
her front window engaged in "stitching shoes," a ver