“Well, Miss Barton, that was her name, had a good deal of trouble with me, I suppose. And one thing that I was the slowest to learn, was spelling. I was quite dull at it. And one day—this is the part that makes me sad, children, I was very naughty. I was determined I would spell my own way, and I began at the word ‘From.’” She turned the next page, and there in the midst of a little story was the word “From” beginning a new sentence, and around it were queer little crumpled-up places in the paper.
“Those are the tears I shed afterward,” said Miss Parrott, pointing to them.
“O dear!” cried both children, quite overcome to see these tears that were cried out of Miss Parrott’s eyes so long ago.
“You see, Miss Barton would have Sister and me stand up before her while she picked out words for us to spell, and then she would have us read the story to which they belonged, and she gave me that word,” Miss Parrott’s finger pointed to “From” in the midst of the crumply spots, “and I spelled it ‘Frum,’ and I wouldn’t spell it any other way, although she told me how. I kept saying, ‘Frum—Frum’ over and over, and Sister tried to make me obey Miss Barton, but I shook my head, and kept saying, ‘Frum’ and at last our governess had to call Mother.”
The room was very still now.
“Well, when our Mother came into the little room, I remember I longed to run into her arms and say I was sorry, but something inside of me held me back, and Mother led me away, and Sister burst out crying.”
“Well, children,” said Miss Parrott, after a pause, “I shall never forget how I suffered as I sat on the little stool in a room by myself, which was our punishment when we were naughty, and thought it all over. And I can never see the word ‘From’ that it doesn’t come back to me. Well now, Davie, so you chose a book?” she added brightly.
“Yes, I did,” said David, still keeping his eyes on “From.”
“You like books pretty well, do you?” asked Miss Parrott, with a keen glance.
“Davie just loves books,” declared Polly impulsively, as Davie raised sparkling eyes.