“Latin,” he answered; “and a grand old language it is;” and he began reading aloud.
“Where do you go to school?” I asked.
“To the Rockdale academy. Have you never heard of it? It is vacation now. We shall commence again in September. Oh, we have great times there. I wish you would join us; you’d like the boys: some of them study, and some are up to all sorts of fun.”
“I wish I could go,” I answered musingly.
“Well, why can’t you? it’s only four miles from here.”
I did not dare stay another moment; and taking my basket, I turned, with a hasty good-by to Frank. Since the vacation commenced, he had visited the grocery almost every day, and very fond he seemed of all sports and amusements.
This boy has a home, I said to myself sadly, and parents to watch over him; he does not have to look after himself; and his little sister is no better than Jennie; and again I dared to question why Frank Clavers had so much, and we were so destitute. But whatever feelings swayed me for the moment, the controlling idea was still the same: “Do what you do well, and God will open a path.”
Even then God was preparing a surprise that would melt me into tears. For several days Miss Grimshaw had been saying that I was getting all she knew of arithmetic; and when September came, she surprised me by asking how I would like to go to the Rockdale academy.
“Oh, so much, Miss Grimshaw; but it is four miles from here, and—”
“It is only three miles by the river road, which is by far the pleasantest. Three miles is not such a long walk for a boy like you.”