The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-11

N lIILE DOROTHY had nao
 quite an exciting day. But,
 now that it was all over she
 felt very relieved and-very sleepy. Perhaps you know, yourself, what strain it is to practice and practice "a piece" to be recited be- fore the whole school. And until to- day she had been trying so hard to memorize her piece" to recite at the schools Columbus Day Exercises. Now it was over; her anxiety and worries were at an end-and the ap- plause when she had made her It. tie bow had been most gratifying.
 Goodness, Mamma but I'm glad I didn't forgetl" she exclaimed. as her mother tucked the covers under her little pink chin and sat down upon the edge of the bed for the nightly Sleepy Time Tale. q was so scared l felt I'd just turn and runi And, Mamma, all the time I was speaking my piece that horrid little Tommy Jones was making faces at me-did you see him? Somehow l just couldn't help looking at him! Oh, it made me feel just awful"
 Mamma smiled. 'I'm glad you didn't let him make you forget" she said. q was quite proud of you, Dorothy. And little Tommy Jones was certainly punished swiftly for trying to embarrass you. Surely you re- member how, when his turn came to speak his piece,' he got as red as a beet and stuttered and stammered and finally had to leave the platform right in the middle of it?"
 "Yes'm,'' answered little Dorothy, demurely. "I made just awful faces at him-and it served him right"
 why, Dorothyi" exclai m Mamma. But there was a suspicious little twinkle around the corners of her eyes and she suddenly became vastly interested in making certain that her daughters clothes were hanging on the big chair so that all of them could lair" properly. Pres ently she returned to her seat on the bed.
 T remember Columbus Day Ex- ercise not long ago." she said, when your Cousin Alfred = Uncle Franks little boy, you know-tried to be just as fresh as little Tommy Jones was today and was punished as promptly, too. Now, keep your arms under the covers and don't fidget around so much, and I'll tell you about it.
 The Columbus Day Exercises that afternoon were quite informal. That is, they were held right in the class room and no fathers or mothers or any outsiders were asked to be pres ent. Your Uncle Frank told me all about 1t and the part Cousin Alfred played -- after the teacher, Miss Dobbs, had told him and suggested such interesting things as straps and rulers and old slippers and switches.
 Teacher, it seems, was in the midst of reading from a small book about the life of Christopher Colum- bus-with every little boy and girl sitting primly in his seat and listening intently-when suddenly as she was about to turn the page, she stopped short
 Tt was not simply the slight pause one naturally makes in such an act; but complete, an alarming pause, which could mean but one thing that something had happened. And something had happened, too! It was that Teacher had suddenly discovered that she couldn't turn the page, And it wouldn't turn because it and sey- eral succeeding pages had been neat ly glued together at their edges. The children, of course, could not see what was the matter
 'Instantly-you know how it is, yourself, Dorothy-the children felt that something was wrong, that some- one had done something disobedient.