Page:Pipetown Sandy (Sousa 1905).djvu/36

with a child's imperfect comprehension, that Sandy's chief need was a stimulus to his interest. We have already noticed in the simple addition, how the mist was swept from Sandy's brain by using the fingers for counting, and, as the studies progressed, Gilbert, with true pedagogic instinct, employed the game of base-ball, the names of streets, the number of houses in a block, the different species of birds, and almost any concrete thing for purposes of intellectual aid. Before the school was dismissed on this first day of their meeting, Sandy had learned to name every Northern State, from Maine to Delaware.

As the two boys filed out after the second session, they walked slowly down the street, and at a little store on the corner a block from the school, Sandy stopped and said:

"Jest wait a minit, Gil, while I go into Jebb's. I've got ter git some darnin' yarn fer mother, an' I'll be out in a jiffy."

While Sandy went inside, Gilbert stood on the corner swinging his books, and feeling very, very happy. The distinguished consideration on the part of the boy who was teaching him to do handsprings, and now asked him to. wait, was most gratifying.