Page:Middle Aged Love Stories (IA middleagedlove00bacorich).djvu/283

 seriously. “I could hand the water to the big boys. I was very proud of it. You drank a great deal.”

He chuckled. “I was born thirsty,” he acknowledged. “By George, how it comes back! I can see it now, that school-house! Funny little red thing—remember how it looked? Big shelf around the sides for a desk, and another under that for the books? Bench all round the room to sit on, and we just whopped our legs over and faced round to recite? And carved—Lord! I don’t believe there was an inch of the wood, all told, that was clear! I nearly cut my thumb off there, one day.”

“One of the big girls fainted away,” she added, “and they laid her on the floor and told me to bring a dipper of water; but my hand shook so I spilled it all over my apron, and she came to before we got more. I was very timid.”

He began on another cooky.

“Did you have two pigtails? And