"Let's get our books together," said Susy, "and then we'll all sit on the sofa and study."
"Me, me," chimed in Dotty Dimple, dropping the little carriage in which she was wheeling her kitty; "me, too!"
"Well, if you must, you must; snuggle in here between Flossy and me," said Susy, who was determined that to-day everything should go on pleasantly.
"Sixteenth class in joggerphy," said Miss Rosy Frances, peeping severely over her spectacles. "Be spry quick!"
The three pupils stood up in a row, holding their books close to their faces.
"Thee may hold out your hands now, and I shall ferule thee—the whole school," was the stern remark of the young teacher, as she took off her spectacles to wipe the holes.
""Why, we haven't been doing anything," said Ruthie, affecting to cry.
"No, I know it; but thee'd ought to have been doing something; thee'd ought to have studied thy lessons."
"But, teacher, we didn't have time," pleaded Flossy; "you called us out so quick! Won't you forgive us!"
"Yes, I will," said Rosy Frances, gently; "I will, if thee'll speak up 'xtremely loud, and fix thine eyes on thy teacher."