"'HE PUT ON ONE OF HER NEW DRESSES'"
"The only thing I don't like," was the reply, "is coming to school with Tom Randall. I am glad he isn't my brother. He's the worst tease I ever saw. Why Alfred, you are a perfect angel beside of him. He made Cornelia Mary cry last night, and she's sixteen."
"Who's Cornelia Mary?"
"She's his sister. He put on one of her new dresses mamma is making, and said he was going to wear it out to milk the cows."
"Did he do it?" inquired Alfred.
"No, his mother made him take it off. He's fourteen and he thinks he knows it all."
"The boys all like him, Sally. If girls weren't so silly they wouldn't have so much trouble."
"You needn't think that bothers me," laughed Sally, "because I want to tell you about the Randalls. They're the nicest people ever, all but Tom. They live in a great big white house with green blinds and wide verandas. It must be lovely in the summer. You ought to see their cows and their horses and their chickens, and when I say chickens I mean everything with feathers; pigeons, ducks, and geese, turkeys, and even guinea hens. Oh, but it's nice. I can't begin to tell you. Cornelia Randall is the sweetest girl you ever saw, too. She told me to call her Cornelia Mary except when I go visiting her school next summer, then I must say 'Miss Randall,' to set the country children a good example."
"Is she going to be a school teacher?"
"Yes, Alfred, and she says she can hardly wait for summer. She's passed her examination and got her certificate, and she's going to teach over in the Hodgkins district. Tom declares he'll visit her school and make speeches to the children. It would be just like him, and she couldn't put him out either, if she tried. Cornelia Mary says sometimes she wishes she was an only child."