“On Saturday Betty and Annie came to see me, and Betty said that Lissy Carson was going to try for the Testament, too. The Carsons hadn’t been coming to meeting very long, but Betty, when she had been there to call with her grandfather a few days before, said Lissy knew fifty-one verses.
“‘And I think she ought to have the Testament,’ announced Betty. ‘Grandfather said it would encourage the whole family. If you two girls and Charlie and I let her say more verses than we do, she would get it.’
“‘But if we knew more verses and just let her get the Testament on purpose,’ put in Annie, ‘it wouldn’t be right, would it?’
“‘But see how hard she’s trying,’ argued Betty. ‘The Carsons have nothing but the big family Bible, and Lissy has to stand by the table and learn her verses out of it. If she works so hard and doesn’t get anything, she might think there’s no use in trying.’
“Annie looked stubborn.
“‘My Father said he would give me a dollar if I get the Testament,’ she said, ‘and I mean to try for it. You can do as you like, Betty, but I will say all the verses I know.’
“‘I should hate to have Lissy get ahead of me,’ I explained, ‘when I’ve always gone to meeting and she hasn’t and I am in the fifth reader and she is only in the third. It would look as if she was so much smarter than I am and Mother hates to have us thought a bit backward.’
“At these arguments Betty herself looked uncertain.
“‘Well, maybe you’re right,’ she remarked. ‘I know it would disappoint Grandfather if I only said a few verses, for he says I should be an example to the other children.’ Then she saw Charlie picking up some early apples in the orchard. ‘Let’s see what Charlie says,’ she cried, and was off across the road with Annie and me following.