The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1906-05-11

BY MARGARET e. sANGsTER. ~ :
Two bright heads, were bent together
over the same book. AS they reached
the. last page Susan looked at Penelope:
and sighed. 81. T><'.'E :<7+
There" she said, that Is ended
We shall recite tomorrow to dear Miss
NJ, and then next week will see us
In Miss BIS classroom, and good
by to good times for six months. Every
girl who has. ever been with Miss B..
fairly hates her, unless she happens to
be one OF her pets. She has pets,
and they may do anything, but the
rest of the class are always getting de-
merits and being scolded and made to
do extra work. I wish i could be Rip
Van Wrinkle and sleep straight through,
the next grade. Miss w., who has
the class higher than Miss b.. is a
darling. But one can't reach her with
out having to undergo the misery of
the class below ~,
AREN'T you exaggerating?" asked
Penelope. Il have seen Miss B. num-
Der OF times, and she looks HARM
less. I cannot understand why she is
so unpopular. The teachers appear to
find her pleasant"
"Oh, she is pleasant enough with
them and with visiting parents" ex-
claimed Sue. 1T is Only her own
girls to whom she is a tyrant. You
have not lived here very long, but
have gone through this school, from
the kindergarten up, and so have my
sisters. Lucy and Mildred and, their
friends have the same opinion that /
have Everybody breads Miss b.
Penelope's dark eyes grew thought.
full. well, Sue" she said, my ia
Their has always taught me to value
fair play, and it does not look to me
like fair play to begin in a new class
with ones mind made up that: she is
going to dislike the teacher That Gre
ates false situation at the outset Why
should We blindly accept what other
people say without waiting to. see for
ourselves where the truth of the mat
| ter lies? Poor Miss B. has har.l
road to travel, if the girls do not trus;
her; before they have given her the
slightest trial.. I, for one, shall do my
work in the best way, / can, and i
shall try to love Miss B. and to make
hre love me-" =.
Susan gave her head a toss. Il pre-
dict, Penelope, that you will be ia
vorite," she said, scornfully
mot at all, but have a conscience,
and I am going to give my teacher the
benefit OF chance. I wish you would
join me. Perhaps if you and I take
the lead, some of the others will fol-
low, and Miss B. for once may have
the pleasure of teaching class who
are not determined to- misunderstood
her intentions and who are not doing
what they can to make ner work har1.
l believe in making my teachers end
easy, if I can. Mother was teacher
before her marriage, and she. has told
me good deal about the seamy side
OF teachers life"
Penelope had in her girlish wisdom
caught the thread of clew that had
tangled itself and led far back into
the years during which the unpopular
teacher had occupied her chair. Miss
B. was exceptionally we'll equipped
a student ,painstaking and profound
the graduate of one college and the
successful prize-winner in post-gradu-
ate work in another, she lacked the
magnetism which in itself makes some
women adorable and adored. In truth,
she was more and more afraid of the
| girls she taught: her native fliffidenc 20