ght. At last he said: "I think you are a
little overstrained this spring. Maybe you were sicker than we knew,
or are growing too fast. Don't worry any more about school. Possibly
father can fix it."

Next morning when I wakened, my everyday clothes lay across the foot of
the bed, so I called mother and asked if I should put them on; she took
me in her arms, and said father thought I had better be in the open,
and I needn't go to school any more that spring. I told her I thought
I could bear it a few more days, now it was going to be over so soon;
but she said I might stay at home, father and Laddie would hear me at
night, and I could take my books anywhere I pleased and study when I
chose, if I had my spelling and reading learned at evening. NOW, say
the Lord doesn't help those who call on Him in faith believing!

Think of being allowed to learn your lessons on the top of the granary,
where you could look out of a window above the treetops, lie in the
cool wind, and watch swallows and martins. Think of studying in the
pulpit when the creek ran high, and the wild birds sang so sweetly you
seemed to hear them for the first time in all your life, and hens,
guineas, and turkeys made prime music in the orchard. You could see
the buds swell, and the little blue flags push through the grass, where
Mrs. Mayer had her flowerbed, and the cowslips greening under the water
of the swale at the foot of the hill, while there might be a Fairy
under any leaf. I was so full, so swelled up and excited, that when I
got ready to pick up a book, I could learn a lesson in a few minutes,
tell all about it, spell every word, and read it back, front, and
sideways. I never learned lessons so quick and so easy in all my life;
father, Laddie, and every one of them had to say so. One night, father
said to Laddie: "This child is furnishing evidence that our school
system is wrong, and our methods of teaching far from right."

"Or is it merely proof that she is different," said Laddie, "and you
can't run her through the same groove you could the rest of us?"

"A little of both," said father, "but most that the system is wrong.
We are not going at children in a way to gain and hold their interest,
and make them love their work. There must be a better way of teaching,
and we should find different teachers. You'll have to try the school
next year yourself, Laddie."

"I have a little plan about a piece of land I am hoping to take before