He was a tall man dressed in a worn suit of black. He wore glasses on his nose, and carried a stick in his hand.
The schoolhouse had only one room, with four small windows, and Larry hung his cap and Eileen her shawl, on nails driven into the wall.
The schoolroom had benches for the children to sit on, with long desks in front of them. On the wall hung a printed copy of the Ten Commandments. At one side there was a fireplace, but, as it was summer, there was no fire in it.
The Master rapped on his desk, which was in the front of the room, and the children all hurried to their seats. Larry sat on one side of the room, with the boys. Eileen sat on the other, with the girls.
The Master called the roll. There were fifteen boys and thirteen girls. When the roll was called and the number marked down on a slate in front of the school, the Master said, “First class in reading.”
All the little boys and girls of the size of Larry and Eileen came forward and stood in a row. There were just three of them: Larry and Eileen and Dennis.
“Larry, you may begin,” said the Master.
Larry read the first lines of the lesson. They were, “To do ill is a sin.
“Can you run far?”
Larry wondered who it was that had done ill, and if he were running away because of it, and who stopped him to ask, “Can you run far?” He was thinking about it when Eileen read the next two sentences.