“Order!” tapped the desk bell, and the room was suddenly still.
The pupils looked to see who had tapped the bell, for the teacher was nowhere to be seen.
They saw the new school-books piled on the platform and on the teacher’s desk—but where was the teacher?
“I am the new Spelling Book, full of hard words,” said the top book of the pile of spellers on the right-hand side of the platform.
“I am the new Reader, full of good stories,” announced the top one of a stack of readers on the left-hand side of the platform.
The pupils were startled. It was so quiet you could hear the clock tick.
“I am the new Arithmetic, full of problems harder to crack than the hickory nuts in the woods,” spoke up a book on the teacher’s desk; “but why don’t you find your teacher?”
No one answered. The children only sat half-frightened, wondering what would happen next.
“I am the new Language Book,” declared another book in the row on the teacher’s desk; “but who will teach you your mother tongue?”
Everyone was still. Only the clock ticked on.