A CHRISTMAS JWSE. 



7«5C 



superior being, and yet in sonie vague way he felt 

 he was like her. The survival of some instinct from 

 some gentle mother's mother led him to pull off his 

 straw hat in her presence. He put it right on again 

 wlien oine of the boys laughed, and yet he wanted 

 to thrash the boy on the spot. 



Sam'l had no thought of attending school. He 

 might go the first day- — to see the fun. He intended 

 to lead the sport in making the " school 'us too hot 

 for the teacher." And now he was the teacher's 

 willing slave ! He had attended school the very 

 first day, and by his mere big fighting presence kept 

 order for the first hour. After that the schbol kept 

 the most beautiful good order of ^ts o\yn sweet boy 

 and girl will. It was capturec} — by a young woman 

 — and enjoyed its captivity. 



' feam'l never missed a day at school. He arose, 

 before light to do his chores, and sat up late over 

 new and wonderful books and papers the teacher 

 had loaned to him. He counted the weeks that she 

 boarded 'round at the qeighbors. Now, at last, she 

 was to be undefj.^lje s^n^e ropf with him, to mee^t a|: 

 th^ same table. , ,, , . , [ . . 



in a sheltered corner of the little border, next the 

 house and close under one of the windows, he had 

 planted a thorny bush . She had given him the plant 

 the first day of school. 



" Plant it for me somewhere near your home. If 

 you cultivate it and bring me a flower, I will, in turn, , 

 give you anything you ask." 



[,,IJie had taken the plant in its pot with awkward 

 tenderness. It must be something new and strange 

 if she brought it from the city. He mumbled some 

 kind of thanks (never having thanked any one be- 

 fore) and sheepishly bore it out of the school among 

 all the boys and girls. One boy laughed and got a.i 

 whacking kick on the shins that he remembered with 

 tears and arnica for a week. If the teacher had 

 given anyone else a plant that first day, it would 

 have been different. To be selected for such an 

 honor almost overwhelmed the big boy. The fact 

 that the next day she gave others more of the treas- 

 ures did not seem to lesson his glory. He had re- 

 ceived the first gift and a promise of reward. 



Those few weeks of "summer school" were full 

 of discoveries for Sam'l. He discovered how little 

 he knew. He had once been just a little proud of 

 his want of " book knowledge.' Now it seemed as 

 if he was scarcely six years old — and nearly six feet 

 tall at that. He could not go to school again. It 

 was his last chance, and the thought seemed to give 

 him a kind of terror, as if his own ignorance some 

 how kept him far away from her. He discovered, 

 moreover, that he was not a big boy. He discovered 



something else, bilt he oouldH't 1 tall'ki about it, at 

 least not now. !■ : ^ 



This last led to some remarkable Tesults.. Hei 

 bought a pocket knife with a blade for the- fifiger 

 nails. He bothered his mother dreadfully about 

 his clothes. He even begged his father for a paintl 

 brush and actually painted the front door a fine tone 

 of green. He tended that plant with infinite care, ; 

 and the thing grew and grew,,: buiii showed noisigns; 

 of bud or flower. ... • 



The two weeks she had been at the Lovewell farmi 

 had been to Sam'l a kind of ' ' heaven- 

 to-earth-come-down " business. And 

 now it was to end. Her second Sat- 

 urday had come. She would go 



'I Meant to Have Given it to You 



"boarding 'round" to some other house, and his> 

 father had insisted that Sam'l leave school at once, 

 and attend to the fall plowing. Queer man, that 

 father. He wanted his fields plowed that they might; 

 remain fallow all winter, and was quite willing Sam'li 

 should remain fallow, too ! She came out once more: 

 to inspect the plant under the living-room window. 

 . "I 've tended her up 's well 's I could — new soil: 

 and liquid manure same as in the book you lent me. . 

 What 'd you call the- plant ?" •• s yi.-Mux ' ' ; i 



"Why, Samuel, it's a rose — a white rose. I'^m.; 

 sorry it has not bloomed.'.' 



" So 'ni I. I wanted to give you the flower 'fore' 

 school stopped. Don't look now as if it would bloom 

 'fore Christmas." j\iohz\ u oviirr! -ju! 



