cond assembly bell as they dared, and with the fear
of tardiness upon them, dashed for the school yard.

His pocket was empty, and his conscience clear, and the morning session
passed swiftly for John. At noon, as the long lines filed into the
school yard to freedom, he looked about him with delight.

The winter's deposit of snow was melting into little rivulets which
trickled merrily along wagon ruts until they came to the street drains.
First-graders stopped to splash soggy snowballs into a huge puddle which
had collected in the street just beyond the alley, and the
drip-drip-drip of the water, from the trees and buildings to the wet,
glistening sidewalks was as music to his ears. He broke into a run
toward home from pure exuberance of feelings, and halted now and then to
fill his lungs with the sunlit, pregnant air which the south wind had
brought.

The thought of the continuation of the "penny lecture" which was waiting
failed to dampen his spirits, even though it threatened curtailment of
his evenings with Louise. For if the skating parties were over, spring
with its marbles, tops, and kindred delights had arrived and all sorrow
fled before it.

CHAPTER XV

THE SPRING BRINGS BASEBALL

Little by little the snow disappeared. During the first days of the
thaw, lethargic city employees chopped paths through the melting ice to
the street drains. Bare edges of the cement walks appeared in places,
and at night the puddles and pools in the street hollows bore a thin,
frozen covering. As the month passed, the crystals became more and more
rare, and green areas of grass appeared on the more exposed portions of
the neighborhood lawns. The children turned from their sport of sailing
sticks and improvised boats down the trickling, artificial brooklets to
take part in games of "Run, sheep, run" and "Hide-and-seek" over the
rapidly softening turf. A pelting, refreshing rain from the south drove
away the last soot-stained vestiges of the snow lying in the protecting
shadows between the houses, and presto, Miss Thomas' little store
displayed a window stock of agates, catseyes, and common clay marbles to
tempt pennies from boyish pockets.

Then, after school, during recess, and for long minutes before the
afternoon session, the alley which flanked the school yard was marked
with rings of varying dimensions. The air resounded with cries of, "No
hudgins," "H'ist," "Your shot," or "You dribbled," as the players
contest