lose a day of
school. Then, if he couldn't go to Springfield, it would be almost as
good to send a present to Mr. Lincoln such as Mr. Kohn planned to
do--but what could a little boy with a limited amount of pocket money
send a man just elected to be president of the United States. He even
crept out of bed very stealthily, not caring to arouse his
ever-wakeful mother in the next room--to look over the treasures in
the top drawer of his little dresser; the finest stamp collection ever
possessed by any boy who attended his school, he thought proudly; a
box of shells and lucky stones gathered on the lake shore last
vacation; a prize book given him at school for perfect attendance,
which Morris never cared to read, as it seemed to be the tale of a
very good little boy who always stood at the head of his class and
never disobeyed his parents; a set of fishing tackle discarded by his
older brother, Harry. Treasures, though they were, Morris would have
sent any or all of them with Mr. Kohn's flag as a going-away gift to
the new president, already enshrined in so many hearts; but, boy
though he was, he knew that a grown up man would not care for his poor
presents. He even lifted his little blue bank and rattled it softly;
but he did not take the trouble to pry it open, for he knew that for
all its jingling, the pennies inside would not amount up to more than
a dollar. Disappointed, yet determined not to let Mr. Kohn outdo him
in the matter, Morris crept back to bed.

The next morning he found his plans for Mr. Lincoln's present far more
fascinating than his lessons as he sat in the basement schoolroom
provided for the children of the congregation. One of the school's
non-Jewish teachers had heard his history and geography. In a little
while Rabbi Adler would take the classes in Hebrew and German. Morris
knew he ought to prepare the lessons so shamefully neglected the night
before, but he found it difficult to put his mind on his task.

Fortunately for him, he wasn't called upon during the Hebrew session
and managed to escape a scolding for his lack of preparation. So he
sat sedately with his eyes glued upon the thick black characters,
while his mind pictured the flag with the Hebrew lettering which was
to be sent to Springfield. He had seen a good many pictures of Mr.
Lincoln and now he tried to imagine how the kindly, homely face would
break into a smile at Mr. Kohn's thoughtfulness. Then he roused
himself to listen, for now