f trying out
the soul of the teacher and proving whether he or she were worthy to
cope with the active minds and bodies of the young bullies of Ashland.
But the expected battle had been forgotten. Every mind was busy with the
matter in hand.

Margaret had given them three minutes to write as many words as they
could think of, of three letters or more, beginning with T, and using
only the letters in the word she had put on the board. When time was
called there was a breathless rush to write a last word, and then each
scholar had to tell how many words he had, and each was called upon to
read his list. Some had only two or three, some had ten or eleven. They
were allowed to mark their words, counting one for each person present
who did not have that word and doubling if it were two syllables, and so
on. Excitement ran high when it was discovered that some had actually
made a count of thirty or forty, and when they started writing words
beginning with R every head was bent intently from the minute time was
started.

Never had three minutes seemed so short to those unused brains, and Jed
yelled out: "Aw, gee! I only got three!" when time was called next.

It was recess-time when they finally finished every letter in that word,
and, adding all up, found that Timothy had won the game. Was that
school? Why, a barbecue couldn't be named beside it for fun! They rushed
out to the school-yard with a shout, and the boys played leap-frog
loudly for the first few minutes. Margaret, leaning her tired head in
her hands, elbows on the window-seat, closing her eyes and gathering
strength for the after-recess session, heard one boy say: "Wal, how d'ye
like 'er?" And the answer came: "Gee! I didn't think she'd be that kind
of a guy! I thought she'd be some stiff old Ike! Ain't she a peach,
though?" She lifted up her head and laughed triumphantly to herself, her
eyes alight, herself now strengthened for the fray. She wasn't wholly
failing, then?

After recess there was a spelling-match, choosing sides, of course,
"Because this is only the first day, and we must get acquainted before
we can do real work, you know," she explained.

The spelling-match proved an exciting affair also, with new features
that Ashland had never seen before. Here the girls began to shine into
prominence, but there were very few good spellers, and they were
presently reduced to two girls--Rosa Rogers, the beauty of the school,
and Amanda Bounds, a stolid, homel