ak a piece.

"When I went home that night I asked my mother what I should learn as my
recitation. She got down a book that she had used when she was a little
school girl, and in it were a number of nice pieces. There was one about
Mary and her little lamb, but I thought that was too young for me to
take, so I picked out one about a ship being wrecked at sea. There were
about ten verses to the piece, and they told how a great storm came up
and drove the vessel on the rocks."

"I'd like to see a big storm!" exclaimed Bunny.

"Please keep quiet!" begged Sue. "Mother can't tell about her speaking
in school if you're going to talk all the while."

"I won't talk any more," promised Bunny Brown. "Please go on, Mother.
I'll be quiet."

So Mrs. Brown continued:

"I began to learn this piece about the wreck. I don't remember now, how
it all went, but I know the first two lines were like this:

"'The thunder rolls,
The lightning flashes!'

"I remember those lines very well," said the children's mother, "and I
thought how wonderful it would be if I could get up there and speak them
in a loud voice. I practiced hard, too--as hard as you have practiced
for your play. And I thought I had the piece learned perfectly. Finally
Friday afternoon came, lessons were finished, books put away and we got
ready for the recitations in the main schoolroom.

"I forget the different pieces that were spoken. There were all kinds,
but none like mine. Some were sad and some were funny, and some of the
boys and girls got up and were so stage-struck that they couldn't think
of a single word of the pieces they had learned.

"Then I was afraid this would happen to me, but when my name was called,
and I walked up to the platform, I was glad to find that I could
remember every single word--or at least I thought I could.

"But dear me! As soon as I opened my mouth and began to speak it was
just as though the bottom had opened and let everything fall out of
everything. All I could think of was the first two lines:

"'The thunder rolls,
The lightning flashes!'

"Over and over again I repeated those lines, and I could not get past
them. The teacher looked sorry for me, and some of the boys and girls
began to laugh. This made it all the worse for me, and my face grew red.
Over and over again I told about the thunder and lightning, and at last
I made up my mind I'd have to do something, or else go to my s