Auntie had arrived. She was an older sister
of his mother and had no home of her own; but made a home with her
relatives. She was a frequent visitor at the parsonage for months at a
time and would help the mother in governing the household. Ritz
remembered especially, that Auntie was particularly inclined to have the
children go to bed in good time--and they had to go--and he also
remembered that they could not get the extra ten minutes from Mother,
for Auntie was always against begging Mother. In fact, Auntie talked so
much about going to bed, that Ritz felt the feared command of retiring
during the whole day. So his thoughts were occupied with these
experiences, and he said after some thinking: "One can make use of an
aunt in a household. She must--she must--she must--"

"Well, what must she? That will be something different from a quality,"
the teacher interrupted the laborious speech of the boy.

"She must not always be reminding that it is time to go to bed," it now
came out.

"Ritz," the teacher said now in a severe tone, "is the school the place
to joke?"

But Ritz looked at the teacher with such unmistakable fright and
astonishment, that the latter saw that it was an honest opinion which
Ritz had made use of in his sentence. He therefore changed his mind and
said more gently: "Your sentence is unfitting and incorrect, for your
three qualities are not there. Do you understand that, Ritz? You will
have to make three sentences at home, all alike; but do not forget the
different qualities. Have you understood me?"

"Yes, teacher," answered Ritz in deepest dejection, for he already saw
himself sitting alone in the evening thinking and thinking and gnawing
on his slate pencil, while Sally and Edi could pursue their merry
entertainments.

Now the end of school was announced. In a short time the door was
opened, and the boys and girls hastened out toward the open place before
the schoolhouse, where suddenly all were crowded together like a huge
ball, from the midst of which came a tremendous noise and confused
shoutings. Something out of the common must have happened.

"In the house of old Marianne"--"a tremendously rich lady"--"a piano,
four men could not get it in, the door is too narrow"--"a small
boy"--"before we went to school"--It was so confused, nothing could
really be understood. Then a voice shouted: "All come along! Perhaps
they are not through with it, come, all of you to the Middle Lot!" And
sudden