Elizabeth Ann and Doris followed her into the building, down a long hall, and up a short flight of stairs.
“Miss Owen, here’s Elizabeth Ann and Doris,” said Catherine, as soon as she opened the door nearest to the stairs.
Miss Owen, the teacher, was talking to another teacher at her desk. She looked surprised, but when she saw Elizabeth Ann and Doris she came over to them instantly.
“How do you do?” she said in a lovely voice. “I’m glad you are going to be in my room this term. Your Uncle Hiram wrote to me about you and I’ve been expecting you.”
Of course that made even the shy Doris feel at home at once. Then Miss Owen showed them their desks and the cloakroom and then the nine o’clock bell rang and it was time to go down stairs where the auditorium was, and where assembly was held every morning.
This was the largest school Doris had ever attended. It was the largest Elizabeth Ann had ever gone to, except the school where she had been a pupil in New York when she visited her Aunt Isabel. This new school was, as Aunt Grace had explained, really six or seven little country schools rolled into one—and when all the pupils were gathered together in the auditorium, they filled all the seats that were arranged in rows on the first floor, and rose in tiers in the gallery.
And how they could sing! One of the older pupils played the piano for them and when the students sang the hymn Elizabeth Ann wondered whether Uncle Hiram, at home in the Bonnie Susie, couldn’t hear them. She sang, too, and so did Doris. It was impossible to be in that auditorium and not join in the song. Elizabeth Ann knew right away that she was going to like the new school.
Afterward she was just as sure. They marched back to their class room and Miss Owen began to teach them spelling. They had spelling and reading, and then it was time for recess. They were allowed twenty minutes for recess, and Miss Owen made every one of them go out and play in the yard. She said no pupil of hers could sit indoors on such a fine day.
Elizabeth Ann and Doris were asked to join a game of jack stones with Mattie Harrison and another little girl who had not been on the bus. Her name was Flora Gabrie. Catherine Gould walked up and down the yard with her arm around one of the older girls and seemed to be listening intently to what she was saying.
“That’s Lenora Miller,” said Mattie, pointing to the older girl. “Catherine Gould thinks everything Lenora says is just right. I shouldn’t wonder if Lenora gets herself invited to Catherine’s party.”