"Oh, we'll study all right," said Kate Keith, "if you'll give us the chance."
"You bet we will!" said another.
Then Esther told them the history of the Gila Club for men, how it had begun, how she had taught the men, how the class had grown until it had seemed imperative to meet in the schoolhouse, and how they organized as a club.
"Did you learn all them men yourself?" asked a girl just in from the range. She was a veritable Amazon.
"Yes," was the answer, "until we began to meet in the schoolhouse. Then I had help."
Esther stood looking into this raw girl's face as though she saw there the loveliest being on earth. What the teacher really saw there was an awakening mind and soul.
The girl, rough and uncouth as she was, admired the teacher, and longed to be like her.
"What can we dae?" asked Jessie Roth, eager to perfect plans for study.
"That is just what I wish you girls to decide. What would you like to do?"
In response to the teacher's question, all of them spoke at once.