le school-house
before either of them spoke again, and then the Dream broke the
silence. "Why did you do that?" he asked; for Marjorie had jumped across
the little ditch and was walking in the grass and weeds along the
roadside. "The road isn't dusty," he added, "so it is no pleasanter
walking there."

"Well, you see," explained Marjorie, "I noticed that some people had
walked along here and made a little path, and it will be much better to
walk on a path by and by when the road _is_ dusty."

"But your walking there this once can't help much."

"It will help some," said Marjorie, "and it is only a little hard for
me; and walking in the dust will be very hard for ever so many after a
while, and the weeds and grass would be grown quite high by that time.
You see, my walking here presses the grass down and makes it look
easier, so that some one else will do the same and help to wear the way.
There," pointing backward, "do you see? All of those schoolchildren have
come over on to the path because they saw me, and that will help ever so
much."

"I guess you're right," said the Dream. "It is a good thing to make
every step that you take, do work that will help some one some time."

Presently they came to a cross-roads, and Marjorie hesitated for a
moment to see which way to turn; and then she noticed that the wind had
blown one of the sign-boards from off its post, and that it lay,
face-downward, in the road, covered with mud. Taking it up, she went to
the little brook by the wayside and washed it carefully; and then,
holding it as high as she could reach, she fastened it to the post, by
pounding in the loosened nails with a stone. This had all taken some
time, and when she had finished, she stepped back to view her work,
wearing an expression of extreme complacence, which quickly changed to
one of vexation, as she discovered that she had nailed the sign up side
down, so that not only were the words inverted; but it pointed in the
wrong direction.

"Oh, dear, see what I've done!" she cried.

"How did you happen to do that?" asked the Dream, looking interested.

"It was just because that little girl over there kept calling and
calling to me. I tried not to hear, at first, but she worried me until I
didn't know what I was about."

"What was the matter with her?" asked the Dream.

"Oh, she had got her dress caught on the fence when she was climbing
over, and spilled some apples or something out of a basket. There, se