Heart of Gold | Page 2

sunshine. Involuntarily the woman smiled. Then, as
the girl continued to mimic the doves, she tapped her foot impatiently
on the floor and repeated emphatically, "Children, take rest position!"
Stealthily the other pupils let their eyes rove about the room in search
of the guilty member, for it was very plain from the teacher's manner
that someone was out of order. Instantly a pencil rapped sharply on the
desk, and forty-nine pair of inquisitive eyes jerked quickly to the front
again. But the fiftieth pair continued to stare out of the window, until in
exasperation the woman's voice rasped out, "Peace Greenfield, will you
please give me your undivided attention?"
With a start of horrified surprise the culprit awoke from her daydreams,
to discover that she was flapping her outstretched arms in either aisle
like some exultant cockerel just ready to crow. Abashed and dismayed
at having been caught napping, she thrust her hands hastily into her
desk, seized her geography, and scrambling to her feet, started for the
front of the room, remembering that her class was the next to recite.
The children tittered, and Peace, much amazed to find that no one
followed, paused uncertainly, searched her brain desperately to recall
the teacher's command, and then glibly recited, "Brazil is bounded on
the north by--"
The scholars burst into a howl of derision, and poor Peace slumped into
her seat, covered with confusion. Even the tired teacher smiled at the
child's discomfort, but immediately rapped for order, and said sternly,
"Rest position, please! The geography and reading classes will not
recite this afternoon. I shall read to you from our book of mythology,
and when I have finished, I shall expect you to repeat the story. What
was the last we read about?"

"The wooden horse in the siege of Troy," shouted a score of voices.
"Correct," smiled the teacher faintly. "And today I shall tell you about
Ganymede and how he was connected with the other characters we
have been studying. Ganymede--repeat the name after me."
"Ganymede," roared the obedient scholars.
"Ganymede," whispered Peace to herself. "Ganymede--what a funny
name! I wonder if he was any relation to those folks Hope was talking
about last night. They were Medes and--and Persians. I d'clare, I 'most
forgot that word. Hist'ry like Hope's must be int'resting. I'll be glad
when I get big enough to study about the Goffs and Salts and--and
Sandals and the rest of that bunch." She meant Goths and Celts and
Vandals, but somehow words had a bad habit of getting sadly mixed up
in that active brain which tried to absorb all it heard; and she was
always making outrageous speeches in consequence.
"I don't like mythology. What do we care about Herc'les and his sore
heel, or Helen or Hector?--I wonder if that's the man Hec Abbott was
named after? I'd rather--My! what a lovely day it is for March! No
wonder the doves are talking. Wouldn't I like to be up on that barn roof
in the sun! Bet I'd do some talking too. S'posing I was a really dove.
What fun it would be to fly away, away up in the blue sky. I wonder if
they ever bump into the clouds. There goes a white cloud skimming
right over the sun. Now it's gone and we're in the shine once more.
Queer how it can shine in spots and be cloudy in spots at the same time.
That's like laughing with one eye and bawling with the other. I don't
b'lieve a body could ever do that. Wish I could, just to see what it
would feel like.
"'Twon't take many days like this 'fore the grass begins to grow and the
leaves to come. The trees are budded big now. I am crazy wild for the
cowslips and vi'lets to get here. Hicks promised to help us plant some
flowers on our Lilac Lady's grave. It looks so bare and lonely now with
the snow all gone, and only that tall white stone to tell where she is. I
know where the loveliest yellow vi'lets grow."

"Peace Greenfield!"
Again Peace came to the earth with an abruptness that left her
breathless and quaking. "Yes, ma'am," she responded meekly.
"You weren't paying attention, were you?" demanded the
long-suffering teacher.
Peace pondered. She could scarcely say "yes" truthfully, and yet her
intentions were good. She had not meant to lose herself again, nor did
realize how very little she had heard of the story which the teacher had
been reading.
"Were you?" repeated Miss Phelps relentlessly.
"Partly," Peace responded haughtily.
The woman gasped; then as the scholars giggled, she said sternly, "Tell
us what the story was about."
Peace opened her mouth. "Gan--" she began and halted. What had the
story been about?