e was hope for
him.

"How old are you, Jerry?"

"Sixteen in September." He hung his head, as if ashamed of his advanced
years. And at Peggy's laugh, his face flushed hotly.

"The reason that sounds so funny," Peggy explained, "is because I was
thinking of a friend of my father's. He's a college professor, and
sometimes he comes to visit us in his vacation. He was twenty when he
first learned to read and write. How's that for a late start? And see
where he's got to!"

Jerry leaned toward her confidentially. "It's this way," he said. "I
wouldn't mind going to school if it 'twasn't for ringing in with a lot
of kids. I couldn't stand that, you know." He looked at Peggy, expectant
of her ready sympathy. But to his surprise, her lip had curled slightly.
"Oh, of course," she said, "if you're afraid--"

"Afraid!" Jerry flung back his head. "Me! I'm not afraid of nothing. Did
I ever show you the rattle I got off that big snake I killed? That
doesn't look much as if I was easy scared."

"I didn't know," returned Peggy, quite unmoved, "but that you might be
afraid of being made fun of."

Jerry had nothing to say. Peggy proceeded to occupy the interval of
silence.

"A boy graduated at one of our high schools a year ago, who had plenty
of pluck, I thought. He came from Russia, a Jew, you know, and when he
got here he couldn't speak a word of English. He was fourteen then, and
they started him in the first grade. That was the only thing to do, I
suppose. Well, it really was a funny sight to see him going into school
with those first-grade tots. He was a big boy for his age, and he had to
curl himself up to sit at one of those tiny desks, so he must have been
awfully uncomfortable. And, of course, it looked queer. If he'd been a
cowardly sort of boy," observed Peggy significantly, "I suppose he would
have given up."

Jerry made no comment, unless an uneasy movement might have been
interpreted as such.

"But he didn't give up, and after a few months he was promoted to the
second grade. And it took him even less time to get into the third. And
then it got so that we'd ask every morning what grade David had been
promoted to. Instead of laughing at him, everybody was proud of him."

Still no comment on Jerry's part.

"Well, as I said, he graduated from the high school a year ago last
spring. He stood second in his class. The boy who was ahead of him is
the son of a circuit judge. David was nineteen. In five years he had
g