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Page 18
You must not, of course, think for a moment that Elizabeth Ann had the
slightest INTENTION of obeying Cousin Ann. No indeed! Nothing was
farther from her mind as her feet carried her along the path and into
the road. In her mind was nothing but rebellion and fear and anger and
oh, such hurt feelings! She turned sick at the very thought of facing
all the staring, curious faces in the playground turned on the new
scholar as she had seen them at home! She would never, never do it! She
would walk around all the afternoon, and then go back and tell Cousin
Ann that she couldn't! She would EXPLAIN to her how Aunt Frances never
let her go out of doors without a loving hand to cling to. She would
EXPLAIN to her how Aunt Frances always took care of her! ... it was easier
to think about what she would say and do and explain, away from Cousin
Ann, than it was to say and do it before those black eyes. Aunt
Frances's eyes were soft, light blue.
Oh, how she wanted Aunt Frances to take care of her! Nobody cared a
thing about her! Nobody UNDERSTOOD her but Aunt Frances! She wouldn't go
back at all to Putney Farm. She would just walk on and on till she was
lost, and the night would come and she would lie down and freeze to
death, and then wouldn't Cousin Ann feel ... Someone called to her,
"Isn't this Betsy?"
She looked up astonished. A young girl in a gingham dress and a white
apron like those at Putney Farm stood in front of a tiny, square
building, like a toy house. "Isn't this Betsy?" asked the young girl
again. "Your Cousin Ann said you were coming to school today and I've
been looking out for you. But I saw you going right by, and I ran out to
stop you."
"Why, where IS the school?" asked Betsy, staring around for a big brick,
four-story building.
The young girl laughed and held out her hand. "This is the school," she
said, "and I am the teacher, and you'd better come right in, for it's
time to begin."
She led Betsy into a low-ceilinged room with geraniums at the windows,
where about a dozen children of different ages sat behind their desks.
At the first sight of them Betsy blushed crimson with fright and
shyness, and hung down her head; but, looking out the corners of her
eyes, she saw that they, too, were all very red-faced and scared-looking
and hung down their heads, looking at her shyly out of the corners of
their eyes. She was so surprised by this that she forgot all about
herself and looked inquiringly at the teacher.
"They don't see many strangers," the teacher explained, "and they feel
very shy and scared when a new scholar comes, especially one from the
city."
"Is this my grade?" asked Elizabeth, thinking it the very smallest grade
she had ever seen.
"This is the whole school," said the teacher. "There are only two or
three in each class. You'll probably have three in yours. Miss Ann said
you were in the third grade. There, that's your seat."
Elizabeth sat down before a very old desk, much battered and hacked up
with knife marks. There was a big H. P. carved just over the inkwell,
and many other initials scattered all over the top.
The teacher stepped back to her desk and took up a violin that lay
there. "Now, children, we'll begin the afternoon session by singing
'America,'" she said. She played the air over a little very sweetly and
stirringly, and then as the children stood up she came down close to
them, standing just in front of Betsy. She drew the bow across the
strings in a big chord, and said, "NOW," and Betsy burst into song with
the others. The sun came in the windows brightly, the teacher, too, sang
as she played, and all the children, even the littlest ones, opened
their mouths wide and sang lustily.
CHAPTER V
WHAT GRADE IS BETSY?
After the singing the teacher gave Elizabeth Ann a pile of schoolbooks,
some paper, some pencils, and a pen, and told her to set her desk in
order. There were more initials carved inside, another big H. P. with a
little A. P. under it. What a lot of children must have sat there,
thought the little girl as she arranged her books and papers. As she
shut down the lid the teacher finished giving some instructions to three
or four little ones and said, "Betsy and Ralph and Ellen, bring your
reading books up here."
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