they had understood the allusion to the pilot of the Argo; but his manner
was so gracious, so earnest, so inspired, that they all felt the spirit of
it, and some had come to regard themselves as the students of some great
destiny.

"Older domes than the pyramids are looking down upon you," he said, "and
you are born to a higher destiny than were ever the children of the
Pharaohs."

"With the exception of Gretchen, not one of the pupils fully understood
the picturesque allusion. Like the reference to the pilot of the Argo, it
was poetic mystery to them; and yet it filled them with a noble curiosity
to know much and a desire to study hard, and to live hopefully and
worthily. Like the outline of some unknown mountain range, it allured them
to higher outlooks and wider distances.

"He talked to us so grandly," said Gretchen to Mrs. Woods one evening,
"that I did not know half that he was saying; but it made me feel that I
might be somebody, and I do intend to be. It is a good thing to have a
teacher with great expectations."

"Yes," said Mrs. Woods, "when there is so little to expect. People don't
take a lot of nothing and make a heap of something in this world. It is
all like a lot of feathers thrown against the wind. _Nevertheless_ it
makes one happier to have prospects, if they are far away. I used to; but
they never came to nothing, unless it was to bring me way out here."

The log school-house was a curious place. The children's benches consisted
of split logs on pegs, without backs. The sides of the building were logs
and sods, and the roof was constructed of logs and pine boughs. All of the