"I know how he feels—the Manitou overhead—he made the hearts of all; yours—the birds—mine. He is glad!"
There was something beautiful and pathetic in the old chief's sense of the common heart and feeling of all conscious beings. The very eagles seemed to understand it; and Master Mann, as he turned away from the school-house that day, said to Gretchen:
"I myself am being taught. I am glad to learn all this large life. I hope that you will one day become a teacher."
Gretchen went home that afternoon with a glad heart. Benjamin did not return to the school again for several days, and when he came back it seemed to be with a sense of humiliation. He seemed to feel somehow that he ought not to have fallen from the tree.
The fourth of July came, and Master Mann had invited the school to come together on the holiday for patriotic exercises. He had one of the pupils read the Declaration of Independence on the occasion, and Gretchen played the President's March on the violin. He himself made an historical address, and then joined in some games out of doors under the trees.
He brought to the school-house that day an American flag, which he hung over the desk during the exercises. When the school went out to play he said:
"I wish I could hang the flag from a pole, or from the top of one of the trees."
Benjamin's face brightened.
"I will go," he said; "I will go up."
"Hang it on the eagle's nest," said one of the pupils. "The eagle is the national bird."