“I was in a valley onct,” said a sleepy boy, who had contributed nothing so far to the morning’s entertainment. “I fell off’n the dock and the boat was clost up to me, and that was a valley.”
“How’d you get out?” asked several with interest.
“Man pulled me out,” and the speaker subsided.
Hannah stole a glance at her watch, as she finished the psalm. She had strung it out as long as she could, but there were still several minutes to dispose of.
“Now I wonder who can tell me what that was all about?” she asked, with feigned sprightliness. “I think you can, the little girl with the red dress. What’s your name? O, yes, Gwendolen.”
Every one turned to look at Gwendolen. She stuck her finger in her mouth, presumably to stem the tide of speech, for as she withdrew it the words fell out over one another all in one breath.
“Don’t want anyfing to eat. Lay down in the 199 grass an’ roll. Put kerosene on my head. Can’t git any more in my cup, all spillin’ over.”
The door opened and once more the superintendent tapped his bell. Hannah, with a deep sigh of thankfulness, marshalled her troop and drove them back to their place, taking her martyr’s seat in their midst.
Through the reading of the secretary’s report and the singing of three stanzas of the closing hymn, they behaved fairly well, subdued by the drowsy atmosphere of air unchanged since the morning service. The last stanza of the hymn was nearly sung. Elsmere rose to his feet and plucked Peter by the hair of his head. Hannah cast an appealing glance at the superintendent, who was nearer the offender than herself. He took a quick stride forward, with his hand uplifted, just as the last wailing sound of the hymn died away. His hand on Elsmere’s collar, he observed the congregation standing with bowed heads. They had misinterpreted his gesture. Casting a look of understanding at Hannah, gripping Elsmere tightly, he pronounced the expected benediction, and as the audience broke up into home-going groups, set the boy down with emphasis.
“We don’t usually close with a prayer,” he said to Hannah, “but they thought that was what I meant, when I stepped forward. I nearly throttled the child but–”