te in selecting a word,
susceptible of a questionable meaning. You know as well as I that if
this should be submitted to a jury at the Heavenly Bower this evening,
the majority would sit down on you, and it would be hard work for you
to escape the penalty."

"I'm afraid it would," responded the parson; "it was a piece of
forgetfulness on my part----"

"Which is the plea that Bidwell and Ruggles made, but it didn't
answer. However, I'll say nothing about it, knowing you will be more
careful in the future, while I shall not forget to put a bridle on my
own tongue. The trouble, however," he added with a smile, "is to make
_her_ overlook it."

"She has promised she will do so."

"Since that promise was made just before I got here, she has shown how
readily she can forget it."

"I will give her a longer lesson than usual and thus drive all
remembrance out of her mind," said the parson resolutely.

Budge Isham folded his arms, prepared to look on and listen, but the
queen of the proceedings checked it all by an unexpected veto.

"Mr. Brush, I feel so tired."

Her face wore a bored expression and she looked wistfully away from
the blackboard toward the cabins below them.

"Does your head hurt you?" inquired the teacher with much solicitude,
while the single auditor was ready to join in the protest.

"No, but mebbe it will hurt me one of these days."

"It isn't wise, parson, to force the child; a great deal of injury is
done to children by cramming their heads with useless knowledge."

The teacher could not feel sure that this counsel was disinterested,
for there could be no danger of his taxing the mental powers of the
little one too severely, but her protest could not pass unheeded.

"You have done very well, my child; you are learning fast, so we'll
leave the spelling for to-morrow. Suppose we now try the commandments:
can you repeat the first one?"

Nellie gave it correctly, as she did with slight assistance, the
remaining ones. She was certainly gifted with a remarkable memory and
possessed an unusually bright mind. Budge Isham was impressed by her
repetition of the decalogue, whose meaning she was unable fully to
grasp. His frivolous disposition vanished, as he looked upon the
innocent child and watched the lips from which the sacred words
flowed. He quietly decided that it would be inexcusably mean to seek
any amusement at the expense of the parson, and it may as well be
added that he never afterward re