enough to be heard half-way across the room:--

"Why, pick it up yourself, mum! It is as near to you as it is to me, and
you don't look weakly."

She picked it up, her poor cheeks burning, but she did not forget it.

Various after-school conferences told their different stories.

"Well!" Mr. Durant said, stopping in the act of mopping his hot forehead
to shake hands with her, "Mrs. Roberts, I honor your courage. Those boys
were simply fearful to-day; I really feared some outbreak that would be
hard to quell. I'm afraid we shall have to give them up. Yes, I know how
you feel: but you haven't been here to see what we have borne from them.
All sorts of teachers have been tried. We have given them the best
material we had, both men and women, and every one has failed. Then
you actually want to try it for another Sabbath! Well, I'm glad of it. Oh,
_I_ don't want to give them up; it makes my heart ache to think of
it; but if we can't keep them in sufficient order to get any benefit,
nor find a teacher who is willing to hold on to them, what else is there
for us to do? But that last complaint I needn't make so long as you
'hold on,' need I?" This last with a genial smile. "Well, God bless you;
I couldn't begin to tell you how much I hope you will succeed."

But his face said: "However, I know you won't."

He turned from her and said as much to young Ried:--

"She is in earnest, Ried, and she has resources; but she won't catch
them, simply because they don't mean to be caught; they come here to