It is nine o’clock, and Alfred and Walter come running out of the house. They turn to the right upon the gravel walk which leads to the river. They take the longest way, because the walk is so pleasant.
How the river sparkles in the sunshine this clear morning! O, how many boats we see! One, two, three, four. The boys get tired of counting them, there are so many.
Now a steam-boat, with many people on its deck, rushes swiftly past. Alfred and Walter stand by the swing on the Catalpa-tree, to look at the steam-boat. Then they must sit down, just one half minute, on that pretty covered bench, standing between two trees. But they will not sit long. They must not keep Miss Lee waiting; and she calls them from the school-house door. Round the lawn they fly, past that large elm, and the plum-tree, bent down with green gages. They have come to the school-house, which well deserves a separate chapter.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SCHOOL-HOUSE.
Come, dear ones, to your lessons,
You have so much to say,
Your spelling and your reading,
Before you go to play.