should I seat him? There was an empty space beside little Mike Higgins,
but Mike's character, obtained from a fond and candid parent, had been
to the effect "that he was in heaven any time if he could jest lay a boy
out flat"! And there was a place by Moses, but he was very much of a fop
just then, owing to a new "second-hand" coat, and might make scathing
allusions to Patsy's abbreviated swallow-tail.

But a pull at my skirt and a whisper from the boy decided me.

"Please can't I set aside o' you, Miss Kate?"

"But, Patsy, the fun of it is I never do sit."

"Why, I thought teachers never done nothin' but set!"

"You don't know much about little boys and girls, that's sure! Well,
suppose you put your chair in front and close to me. Here is Maggie
Bruce on one side. She is a real little Kindergarten mother, and will
show you just how to do everything. Won't you, Maggie?"

We had our morning hymn and our familiar talk, in which we always
"outlined the policy" of the new day; for the children were apt to be
angelic and receptive at nine o'clock in the morning, the unwillingness
of the spirit and weakness of the flesh seldom overtaking them till an
hour or so later. It chanced to be a beautiful day, for Helen and I were
both happy and well, our volunteer helpers were daily growing more
zealous and efficient, and there was no tragedy in the immediate
foreground.

In one of the morning songs, when Paulina went into the circle and threw