These Happy Golden Years Read Free

then she opened the door and went in.
    The board walls were not battened. Streaks of sunshine streamed through the cracks upon a row of six homemade seats and desks that marched down the middle of the room. Beyond them on the studding of the opposite wall, a square of boards had been nailed and painted black, to make a blackboard.
    In front of the seats stood a big heating stove. Its round sides and top were cherry-red from the heat of the fire, and standing around it were the scholars that Laura must teach. They all looked at Laura. There were five of them, and two boys and one girl were taller than she was.
    “Good morning,” she managed to say.
    They all answered, still looking at her. A small window by the door let in a block of sunshine. Beyond it, in the corner by the stove, stood a small table and a chair.
    “That is the teacher's table,” Laura thought, and then,
    “Oh my; I am the teacher.”
    Her steps sounded loud. All the eyes followed her. She put her books and dinner pail on the table, and took off her coat and hood. She hung them on a nail in the wall by the chair. On the table was a small clock; its hands stood at five minutes to nine.
    Somehow she had to get through five minutes, before the time to begin school.
    Slowly she took off her mittens and put them in the pocket of her coat. Then she faced all the eyes, and stepped to the stove. She held her hands to it as if to warm them. All the pupils made way for her, still looking at her. She must say something. She must.
    “It is cold this morning, isn't it?” she heard herself say; then without waiting for an answer, “Do you think you can keep warm in the seats away from the stove?”
    One of the tall boys said quickly, “I'll sit in the back seat, it's the coldest.”
    The tall girl said, “Charles and I have to sit together, we have to study from the same books.”
    “That's good; then you can all sit nearer the stove, Laura said. To her joyful surprise, the five minutes were gone! She said, ”You may take your seats. School will begin."
    The little girl took the front seat; behind her sat the little boy, then the tall girl and Charles, and behind them the other tall boy. Laura rapped her pencil on the table. “School will come to order. I will now take your names and ages.”
    The little girl was Ruby Brewster; she was nine years 15
    old. She had brown hair and sparkling brown eyes, and she was as soft and still as a mouse. Laura knew she would be sweet and good. She had finished the First Reader, and in arithmetic she was learning subtraction.
    The little boy was her brother Tommy Brewster. He was eleven, and had finished the Second Reader, and reached short division.
    The two sitting together were Charles and Martha Harrison. Charles was seventeen; he was thin and pale and slow of speech. Martha was sixteen; she was quicker, and spoke for them both.
    The last boy was Clarence Brewster. He, too, was older than Laura. His brown eyes were even brighter and livelier than his little sister Ruby's, his dark hair was thick and unruly, and he was quick in speaking and moving. He had a way of speaking that was almost saucy.
    Clarence, Charles and Martha were all in the Fourth Reader. They had passed the middle of the spelling book, and in arithmetic they were working fractions. In geography they had studied the New England states, and they answered questions so well that Laura set them to learn the Middle Atlantic states. None of them had studied grammar or history, but Martha had brought her mother's grammar and Clarence had a history book.
    “Very well,” Laura said. "You may all begin at the beginning in grammar and history, and exchange the books, to learn your lessons.
    When Laura had learned all this, and assigned their lessons, it was time for recess. They all put on their wraps and went out to play in the snow, and Laura breathed a sigh of relief. The first quarter of the first day was over.
    Then she began to plan; she would have reading,