She drew nearer, and shook hands, giving each boy a nod, and then bringing back her attention to the young teacher.

“So this isn’t only play?” she said.

“O no; it is work, not play,” Maimie answered, smiling.

“What was the boy saying to you?”

“Some poetry.”

Aunt Briscoe despised poetry, and she gave a little sniff.

“What good will that do him, I should like to know?”

Maimie looked surprised at the question.

“Mother used to say no one was educated who had not a knowledge of the best poets,” she said. “And anything that exercises his memory, and makes him think, is good for him.”

“Makes him think!”