"I wish Monday would come quick," exclaimed the boy. "I want to begin to go to school. I mean to carry a great big bouquet, out of my own garden. Did you know I had a garden, Miss Grant?"
"No, I did not; but I am very glad to hear it. I love flowers almost as well as I do good little boys and girls."
"I should think you would love your mother better than either. I do."
Miss Grant's lip quivered, and tears gushed to her eyes. "I do love my mother," she said, softly, "but she is in heaven."
"I'm real sorry," said the sympathizing child, affectionately kissing the hand he held. "If you were little, like Nelly and me, mother would let you be her daughter, I guess."
When the children reached home, Mrs. Gray was most happy to see what an influence the young teacher had already established over them. She encouraged their love for her, and appealed to their sympathies by saying, "She is an orphan, without father or mother; we must all try to make her forget her sorrows by showing her that she has still many warm friends."
CHAPTER II.
ONE DAY AT SCHOOL.