that we must not only send things we don't want any more. So I gave the
helmet away and I should have loved to keep it."

"Don't laugh at him, Kurt; I really told him that," the mother affirmed.
"He wanted to do right but he did not quite find the right way of doing
it. If you had told me your intention, Lippo, I could have helped you to
do some positive good. Next time you want to help, tell me about it, and
we'll do it together."

"Yes, I will," Lippo said, quite appeased.

"Oh, mother, listen!" Kurt was continuing. "I have to tell you something
you won't like and we don't like either. Just think! Loneli had to sit
on the shame-bench to-day. But all the class is on Loneli's side."

"But why, Kurt? The poor child!" the mother exclaimed. "What did she do?
I am afraid that her honest old grandmother will take it terribly to
heart. She'll be in deep sorrow about it and will probably punish Loneli
again."

"No, indeed, she must not do that," Kurt said eagerly. "The teacher said
himself that he hated to put Loneli there, as she was a good and obedient
child, but that he had to keep his word. He had announced that he was
tired of the constant chattering going on in the school. To stop it he
had threatened to put the first child on the shame-bench that was caught.
So poor Loneli had to sit there all by herself and she cried so terribly
that we all felt sorry. But of course, mother, a person doesn't talk
alone, and Loneli should not have been obliged to stay there alone. The
teacher had just asked: 'Who is talking over there? I can hear some
whispering. Who is it?' Loneli answered 'I' in a low voice, so she had