CHAPTER III
THE DAY OF SCRAPES
Mrs. Knight's school, to which Katy and Clover and Cecy went, stoodquite at the other end of the town from Dr. Carr's. It was a low,one-story building and had a yard behind it, in which the girls playedat recess. Unfortunately, next door to it was Miss Miller's school,equally large and popular, and with a yard behind it also. Only a highboard fence separated the two playgrounds.
Mrs. Knight was a stout, gentle woman, who moved slowly, and had a facewhich made you think of an amiable and well-disposed cow. Miss Miller,on the contrary, had black eyes, with black corkscrew curls waving aboutthem, and was generally brisk and snappy. A constant feud raged betweenthe two schools as to the respective merits of the teachers and theinstruction. The Knight girls for some unknown reason, consideredthemselves genteel and the Miller girls vulgar, and took no pains toconceal this opinion; while the Miller girls, on the other hand,retaliated by being as aggravating as they knew how. They spent theirrecesses and intermissions mostly in making faces through the knot-holesin the fence, and over the top of it when they could get there, whichwasn't an easy thing to do, as the fence was pretty high. The Knightgirls could make faces too, for all their gentility. Their yard had onegreat advantage over the other: it possessed a wood-shed, with aclimbable roof, which commanded Miss Miller's premises, and upon thisthe girls used to sit in rows, turning up their noses at the next yard,and irritating the foe by jeering remarks. "Knights" and "Millerites,"the two schools called each other; and the feud raged so high, thatsometimes it was hardly safe for a Knight to meet a Millerite in thestreet; all of which, as may be imagined, was exceedingly improving bothto the manners and morals of the young ladies concerned.
One morning, not long after the day in Paradise, Katy was late. Shecould not find her things. Her algebra, as she expressed it, had "goneand lost itself," her slate was missing, and the string was off hersun-bonnet. She ran about, searching for these articles and bangingdoors, till Aunt Izzie was out of patience.
"As for your algebra," she said, "if it is that very dirty book withonly one cover, and scribbled all over the leaves, you will find itunder the kitchen-table. Philly was playing before breakfast that it wasa pig: no wonder, I'm sure, for it looks good for nothing else. How youdo manage to spoil your school-books in this manner, Katy, I cannotimagine. It is less than a month since your father got you a newalgebra, and look at it now--not fit to be carried about. I do wish youwould realize what books cost!
"About your slate," she went on, "I know nothing; but here is thebonnet-string;" taking it out of her pocket.
"Oh, thank you!" said Katy, hastily sticking it on with a pin.
"Katy Carr!" almost screamed Miss Izzie, "what are you about? Pinning onyour bonnet-string! Mercy on me, what shiftless thing will you do next?Now stand still, and don't fidget. You sha'n't stir till I have sewed iton properly."
It wasn't easy to "stand still and not fidget," with Aunt Izziefussing away and lecturing, and now and then, in a moment offorgetfulness, sticking her needle into one's chin. Katy bore it aswell as she could, only shifting perpetually from one foot to theother, and now and then uttering a little snort, like an impatienthorse. The minute she was released she flew into the kitchen, seizedthe algebra, and rushed like a whirlwind to the gate, where goodlittle Clover stood patiently waiting, though all ready herself, andterribly afraid she should be late.
"We shall have to run," gasped Katy, quite out of breath. "Aunt Izziekept me. She has been so horrid!"
They did run as fast as they could, but time ran faster, and before theywere half-way to school the town clock struck nine, and all hope wasover. This vexed Katy very much; for, though often late, she was alwayseager to be early.
"There," she said, stopping short, "I shall just tell Aunt Izzie that itwas her fault. It is _too_ bad." And she marched into school in a verycross mood.
A day begun in this manner is pretty sure to end badly, as most of usknow. All the morning through, things seemed to go wrong. Katy missedtwice in her grammar lesson, and lost her place in the class. Her handshook so when she copied her composition, that the writing, not good atbest, turned out almost illegible, so that Mrs. Knight said it must allbe done over again. This made Katy crosser than ever; and almost beforeshe thought, she had whispered to Clover, "How hateful!" And then, whenjust before recess all who had "communicated" were requested to standup, her conscience gave such a twinge that she was forced to get up withthe rest, and see a black mark put against her name on the list. Thetears came into her eyes from vexation; and, for fear the other girlswould notice them, she made a bolt for the yard as soon as the bellrang, and mounted up all alone to the wood-house roof, where she satwith her back to the school, fighting with her eyes, and trying to gether face in order before the rest should come.
Miss Miller's clock was about four minutes slower than Mrs. Knight's, sothe next playground was empty. It was a warm, breezy day, and as Katysat here, suddenly a gust of wind came, and seizing her sun-bonnet,which was only half tied on, whirled it across the roof. She clutchedafter it as it flew, but too late. Once, twice, thrice, it flapped, thenit disappeared over the edge, and Katy, flying after, saw it lying acrumpled lilac heap in the very middle of the enemy's yard.
This was horrible! Not merely losing the bonnet, for Katy wascomfortably indifferent as to what became of her clothes, but to lose it_so_. In another minute the Miller girls would be out. Already sheseemed to see them dancing war-dances round the unfortunate bonnet,pinning it on a pole, using it as a football, waving it over the fence,and otherwise treating it as Indians treat a captive taken in war. Wasit to be endured? Never! Better die first! And with very much thefeeling of a person who faces destruction rather than forfeit honor,Katy set her teeth, and sliding rapidly down the roof, seized the fence,and with one bold leap vaulted into Miss Miller's yard.
Just then the recess bell tinkled; and a little Millerite who sat by thewindow, and who, for two seconds, had been dying to give the excitinginformation, squeaked out to the others: "There's Katy Carr in ourback-yard!"
Out poured the Millerites, big and little. Their wrath andindignation at this daring invasion cannot be described. With a howlof fury they precipitated themselves upon Katy, but she was quick asthey, and holding the rescued bonnet in her hand, was alreadyhalf-way up the fence.
There are moments when it is a fine thing to be tall. On this occasionKaty's long legs and arms served her an excellent turn. Nothing but aDaddy Long Legs ever climbed so fast or so wildly as she did now. In onesecond she had gained the top of the fence. Just as she went over aMillerite seized her by the last foot, and almost dragged her boot off.
Almost, not quite, thanks to the stout thread with which Aunt Izzie hadsewed on the buttons. With a frantic kick Katy released herself, and hadthe satisfaction of seeing her assailant go head over heels backward,while, with a shriek of triumph and fright, she herself plunged headlonginto the midst of a group of Knights. They were listening with openmouths to the uproar, and now stood transfixed at the astonishingspectacle of one of their number absolutely returning alive from thecamp of the enemy.
I cannot tell you what a commotion ensued. The Knights were besidethemselves with pride and triumph. Katy was kissed and hugged, and madeto tell her story over and over again, while rows of exulting girls saton the wood-house roof to crow over the discomfited Millerites: andwhen, later, the foe rallied and began to retort over the fence, Clover,armed with a tack-hammer, was lifted up in the arms of one of the tallgirls to rap the intruding knuckles as they appeared on the top. Thisshe did with such good-will that the Millerites were glad to drop downagain, and mutter vengeance at a safe distance. Altogether it was agreat day for the school, a day to be remembered. As time went on, Katy,what with the excitement of her adventure, and of being praised andpetted by the big girls, grew perfectly reckless, and hardly knew whatshe said or did.
A good many of the scholars lived too far from school to go home atnoon, and were in the habit
of bringing their lunches in baskets, andstaying all day. Katy and Clover were of this number. This noon, afterthe dinners were eaten, it was proposed that they should play somethingin the school-room, and Katy's unlucky star put it into her head toinvent a new game, which she called the Game of Rivers.
It was played in the following manner: Each girl took the name of ariver, and laid out for herself an appointed path through the room,winding among the desks and benches, and making a low, roaring sound, toimitate the noise of water. Cecy was the Platte, Marianne Brooks, a tallgirl, the Mississippi, Alice Blair, the Ohio, Clover, the Penobscot, andso on. They were instructed to run into each other once in a while,because, as Katy said, "rivers do." As for Katy herself, she was "FatherOcean," and, growling horribly, raged up and down the platform whereMrs. Knight usually sat. Every now and then, when the others were at thefar end of the room, she would suddenly cry out, "Now for a meeting ofthe waters!" whereupon all the rivers bouncing, bounding, scrambling,screaming, would turn and run toward Father Ocean, while he roaredlouder than all of them put together, and made short rushes up and down,to represent the movement of waves on a beach.
Such a noise as this beautiful game made was never heard in the town ofBurnet before or since. It was like the bellowing of the bulls ofBashan, the squeaking of pigs, the cackle of turkey-cocks, and the laughof wild hyenas all at once; and, in addition, there was a great bangingof furniture and scraping of many feet on an uncarpeted floor. Peoplegoing by stopped and stared, children cried, an old lady asked why someone didn't run for a policeman; while the Miller girls listened to theproceedings with malicious pleasure, and told everybody that it was thenoise that Mrs. Knight's scholars "usually made at recess."
Mrs. Knight coming back from dinner, was much amazed to see a crowd ofpeople collected in front of her school. As she drew near, the soundsreached her, and then she became really frightened, for she thoughtsomebody was being murdered on her premises. Hurrying in, she threw openthe door, and there, to her dismay, was the whole room in a frightfulstate of confusion and uproar: chairs flung down, desks upset, inkstreaming on the floor; while in the midst of the ruin the franticrivers raced and screamed, and old Father Ocean, with a face as red asfire, capered like a lunatic on the platform.
"What _does_ this mean?" gasped poor Mrs. Knight, almost unable to speakfor horror.
At the sound of her voice the Rivers stood still, Father Ocean broughthis prances to an abrupt close, and slunk down from the platform. Allof a sudden, each girl seemed to realize what a condition the room wasin, and what a horrible thing she had done. The timid ones coweredbehind their desks, the bold ones tried to look unconscious, and, tomake matters worse, the scholars who had gone home to dinner began toreturn, staring at the scene of disaster, and asking, in whispers, whathad been going on?
Mrs. Knight rang the bell. When the school had come to order, she hadthe desks and chairs picked up, while she herself brought wet cloths tosop the ink from the floor. This was done in profound silence; and theexpression of Mrs. Knight's face was so direful and solemn, that a freshdamp fell upon the spirits of the guilty Rivers, and Father Ocean wishedhimself thousands of miles away.
When all was in order again, and the girls had taken their seats, Mrs.Knight made a short speech. She said she never was so shocked in herlife before; she had supposed that she could trust them to behave likeladies when her back was turned. The idea that they could act sodisgracefully, make such an uproar and alarm people going by, had neveroccurred to her, and she was deeply pained. It was setting a bad exampleto all the neighborhood--by which Mrs. Knight meant the rival school,Miss Miller having just sent over a little girl, with her compliments,to ask if any one was hurt, and could _she_ do anything? which wasnaturally aggravating! Mrs. Knight hoped they were sorry; she thoughtthey must be--sorry and ashamed. The exercises could now go on as usual.Of course some punishment would be inflicted for the offense, but sheshould have to reflect before deciding what it ought to be. Meantime shewanted them all to think it over seriously; and if any one felt that shewas more to blame than the others, now was the moment to rise andconfess it.
Katy's heart gave a great thump, but she rose bravely: "I made up thegame, and I was Father Ocean," she said to the astonished Mrs. Knight,who glared at her for a minute, and then replied solemnly: "Very well,Katy--sit down;" which Katy did, feeling more ashamed than ever, butsomehow relieved in her mind. There is a saving grace in truth whichhelps truth-tellers through the worst of their troubles, and Katy foundthis out now.
The afternoon was long and hard. Mrs. Knight did not smile once; thelessons dragged; and Katy, after the heat and excitement of theforenoon, began to feel miserable. She had received more than one hardblow during the meetings of the waters, and had bruised herself almostwithout knowing it, against the desks and chairs. All these places nowbegan to ache: her head throbbed so that she could hardly see, and alump of something heavy seemed to be lying on her heart.
When school was over, Mrs. Knight rose and said, "The young ladies whotook part in the game this afternoon are requested to remain." All theothers went away, and shut the door behind them. It was a horriblemoment: the girls never forgot it, or the hopeless sound of the door asthe last departing scholar clapped it after her as she left.
I can't begin to tell you what it was that Mrs. Knight said to them: itwas very affecting, and before long most of the girls began to cry. Thepenalty for their offense was announced to be the loss of recess forthree weeks; but that wasn't half so bad as seeing Mrs. Knight so"religious and afflicted," as Cecy told her mother afterward. One by onethe sobbing sinners departed from the schoolroom. When most of them weregone, Mrs. Knight called Katy up to the platform, and said a few wordsto her specially. She was not really severe, but Katy was too penitentand worn out to bear much, and before long was weeping like awater-spout, or like the ocean she had pretended to be.
At this, tender-hearted Mrs. Knight was so much affected that she lether off at once, and even kissed her in token of forgiveness, which madepoor Ocean sob harder than ever. All the way home she sobbed; faithfullittle Clover, running along by her side in great distress, begging herto stop crying, and trying in vain to hold up the fragments of herdress, which was torn in, at least, a dozen places. Katy could not stopcrying, and it was fortunate that Aunt Izzie happened to be out, andthat the only person who saw her in this piteous plight was Mary, thenurse, who doted on the children, and was always ready to help them outof their troubles.
On this occasion she petted and cosseted Katy exactly as if it had beenJohnnie or little Phil. She took her on her lap, bathed the hot head,brushed the hair, put arnica on the bruises, and produced a clean frock,so that by tea-time the poor child, except for her red eyes, looked likeherself again, and Aunt Izzie didn't notice anything unusual.
For a wonder, Dr. Carr was at home that evening. It was always a greattreat to the children when this happened, and Katy thought herself happywhen, after the little ones had gone to bed, she got Papa to herself,and told him the whole story.
"Papa," she said, sitting on his knee, which, big girl as she was, sheliked very much to do, "what is the reason that makes some days so luckyand other days so unlucky? Now today began all wrong, and everythingthat happened in it was wrong, and on other days I begin right, and allgoes right, straight through. If Aunt Izzie hadn't kept me in themorning, I shouldn't have lost my mark, and then I shouldn't have beencross, and then _perhaps_ I shouldn't have got in my other scrapes."
"But what made Aunt Izzie keep you, Katy?"
"To sew on the string of my bonnet, Papa."
"But how did it happen that the string was off?"
"Well," said Katy, reluctantly, "I am afraid that was _my_ fault, for itcame off on Tuesday, and I didn't fasten it on."
"So you see we must go back of Aunt Izzie for the beginning of thisunlucky day of yours, Childie. Did you ever hear the old saying about,'For the want of a nail the shoe was lost'?"
"No, never--tell it to me!" cried Katy
, who loved stories as well aswhen she was three years old.
So Dr. Carr repeated--
"For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, For the want of a shoe the horse was lost, For the want of a horse the rider was lost, For the want of a rider the battle was lost, For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost, And all for want of a horse-shoe nail."
"Oh, Papa!" exclaimed Katy, giving him a great hug as she got off hisknee, "I see what you mean! Who would have thought such a littlespeck of a thing as not sewing on my string could make a difference?But I don't believe I shall get in any more scrapes, for I sha'n'tever forget--
"'For the want of a nail the shoe was lost.'"