The grandmother frequently spent the summer evenings sitting in the front yard, and Stineli and Rico liked to sit with her and listen to the stories she told them. When the vesper bell rang she would say, "Remember, that is the signal for our evening worship." Then the three would devoutly repeat the Lord's Prayer.
"Your evening devotion ought never to be neglected," the grandmother continued one evening; "I have lived many more years than you have, and I have known many people, but I have observed that there is a time in the life of every one when prayer is needful. I have some in mind who did not pray, but when troubles came they had nothing to comfort them. I want you to know that you need not worry so long as you use this prayer."
It was May and the school was still in session, although it could not be kept open much longer, for the trees were beginning to show green tips, and great stretches of ground were entirely free from snow. Rico was standing in the doorway, observing these facts while waiting for Stineli. Earlier than usual the door across the way opened and she ran to him.
"Have you been waiting long? No doubt you've been building air castles at the same time," she said, laughing. "We shall not be late to-day, even if we walk slowly. Do you ever think about that pretty lake any more?" asked Stineli, as they walked along.
"Indeed I do," replied Rico; "I often dream of it, too, and I see large red flowers near the violet-colored hills I told you about."
"But dreams don't count," broke in Stineli. "I have dreamed that Peter climbed up the tallest tree, but when he got to the topmost branch I thought it was only a bird, and then he called to me to dress him. That proves how impossible dreams may be."
"This one of mine is possible," asserted Rico. "It makes me think of something that I have really seen, and I know that I have looked at those flowers and the hills. The picture is too real to be a dream only." As they neared the schoolhouse a company of children ran to meet them, and they all entered the schoolroom together.
In a few moments the teacher came. He was an old man who had taught in this room many years, and his hair had grown thin and gray as the years passed by. This morning he began the exercises with a number of questions on previous work, following this with the song, "Little Lambs."
Rico was looking so attentively at the teacher's fingering of the violin strings that he forgot to sing. The children, being accustomed to depending upon Rico's voice, sang out of tune, and the notes from the violin became more and more uncertain until all was in confusion. The song was abruptly ended by the teacher's throwing the violin on the table in disgust. "What are you trying to sing, you foolish children?" he exclaimed. "If I only knew who gets so out of tune and spoils the whole song!"
A lad sitting next to Rico ventured to say, "I know why it went that way; it always does when Rico doesn't sing."