“Don’t you fret,” admonished Urilla. “I know just how you feel, but you needn’t be afraid.”
“I’m plumb ’shamed of my ignorance. I won’t be nowhar ’side of you-all,” Gincy answered disconsolately.
“You’ll be just where I was last year,” consoled Kizzie.
“Do you reckon so? Well, I’m bound ter work every minnit now I’ve got started.” Gincy’s mouth showed an even line of determination. She looked around curiously as they entered the big, brick building. On either side of the wide stairway were the rooms for cooking and sewing. Students were passing in and out.
“I’ve had cooking,” said Urilla, “and I’ve taught Sallie to make good bread.”
“I’d rather take sewing; it’s easier.” Kizzie’s black eyes twinkled.
“If I had my ruthers it would be cookin’,” declared Gincy. “I could help mammy a heap; hit’s better to move ’round some, too.”
A crowd was constantly passing up and down the stairs leading to the second floor. Some of the boys and girls had yellow slips in their hands; a few looked worried. In the large, upstairs classrooms there was a sprinkling of parents. Many had come a score of miles with ox teams and stood around anxiously awaiting the result of the examination.
All new pupils were assigned to Room 2, and here Gincy discovered Abner, his yellow head bent over a sheet of paper covered with figures. Gincy regarded him with confidence. Abner was strong in arithmetic—the one study the mountain teachers had impressed upon their pupils. For herself she was not so sure. Her knowledge of geography was hazy. In grammar the parts of speech had been carefully reviewed, but she was in doubt about parsing, and diagramming looked to her like a jumble of words tumbling over a precarious footing of loose boards. She dropped into a vacant seat near the door while Urilla looked for a teacher who was not too busy to interview her. Presently, she returned, and Gincy found herself shaking hands with an attractive young woman whose near-sighted brown eyes held the friendliest look in the world.
“I’m so glad to meet you, Miss Gooch; you’re from Clay County? You’ll find a good many boys and girls from there. Urilla told me all about you at breakfast time and we’re going to help you get acquainted. You’ll be one of my specials on the third floor, I can tell that by looking at you.”