The Corner House Girls at School

omes old Mr. Abel-and he has fire

Ruth, clinging to Agnes' hand under th

awful! Po

ks a fright,"

's laughing,"

hed Mrs. MacCall

hoe shop and it was a joke among the young folk of Milton that all the shoes

cheap!

man stopped by the Kenway pew, the minister lost the thread of h

s and Mrs. MacCall. His face was very red, and he sho

you take off that wig and put it in your pocke

ody in the Kenway pew. The girls' cheeks burned. M

so than the clergyman himself. All the young folk

rong intent, merely gazed at the old gentle

ot the whole crowd by the ears. A most disgraceful exhibition.

aimed Ruth

d not fail to espouse the cause of anybody whom she considered

hispered, shrilly. "He's a mea

nd when she was angry. The boy, his face aflame, got out through the next pew, which chanced to

g ill-treated, and whatever else you could say about Aggie Kenway,

up one aisle while the boy and girl hurried up the other. It seemed

st for his rainbow-hued hair,

king their way to the door as though the silence had held the congregation for an hour!

iding a part of the ruin, but Deacon

h quivering voice. "I don't know who you are-you are a stranger to

oke, Mr. Abel

new-fangled wigs I read folks in the city wear to

said, while Neale clut

s own hair!" almost sh

with my hair?" dema

what his head looks like?" cried the amazed deacon. "

e; he led Neale in by the arm. In the small mirror on the wall

, and out of the church. It was a hot Sunday and the walks were bathed in sunshine. Neal

rcely anybody in sight. Milton observed Sunday most par

that Agnes was just beside him. He looked a

for?" he asked her,

the girl whispered, dra

then exclaimed: "Why, Aggie! you'

t she hastened to say: "W

boy, in some confusion. "Only I go

ve changed it to so many co

ike that old man-tha

u did d

ried

ere buying yesterday in t

started for church. He said it wou

sai

clerk," said Nea

ld you hair-

knows what

-and it's run down your n

ever get it off, Agg

apsuds in a tub in the woodshed-so we can splash i

er and the soap and a hand-brush from the kitchen. Neale removed his collar and tie, a

scrubbed, and the more Neale su

ole scalp is as sore as a boil. I don't beli

hurt you, Neale

t isn't the co

It's a sort of a sickly green all over. I never did see

a nuisance. Everybody who ever saw me

sees that hair of yours now wil

school with it to-m

ht-in time," said the gir

spend with green hair," returned Neal

t's

don't know but I'd

funny," giggled Agnes, su

back upon a box to have her laugh out. "But I won't be any funnier lookin

premises, before the rest of the Kenway family cam

g her head. "It would have been all right if yo

him out of church just as though he were a s

ong to us, does he?"

uess, Dot," said Tess, as Agnes w

ot, slowly. "But I like Neale. Only I w

rs. MacCall, in vexation. "I thought gals was crazy en

say, "I knew that fellow would come to some bad end." But Uncl

de time w'en my Pechunia was a young, flighty gal. Dese young t'

was. She done talk erbout face-bleach, an' powder, an' somet'ing she call 'rooch' wot white sassiety wimmens fi

e is to hit. Ef all de watah an' soap yo' done use ain't take no parti

b ter earn de money to buy some o' dem make-up stuff, an' she goes down ter de dr

glo-ree! De clerk ask her: 'Wot shade does yo' want

color,

g his eyes and shaking his head in delight. "W'y, he done gib her powdered charcoal! Da

inder of Sunday. He sought out a neighbor who had a pair of sheep-shears, and Mr. Murphy cropped the boy's hair close t

Agnes' vision the Monday morning previous, and had come to

h. "He looks like a gnome o

nd followed behind the Kenway girls to school. He

the boys at school, when once they saw his

sproutin' out of the garden in the spring. Luk out as ye go over th' fince

and Neale had flushed redly, bein

ou kem from, I'm glad ter see. An' begorra! ye're more pathriotic than yer name implies,

fferent with his hair cropped, from what he had at church on Sunday, that few of the young fol

get acquainted with some of the fellows-especially those of the highest grammar grade.

llingly enough he did so. "For goodness' sake! what hav

ir clipped, si

color of

I had the ha

d you do

r," said Neale. "But I

cipal, his eyes twinkling. "But

veral little girls whom she had met at Sunday school during the summer. Then Ruth hurried to

ilding and was presided over by Miss Andrews-a lady of most uncertain

of the Stower houses on Meadow Street; Uncle Rufus' granddaughter, Alfredia (with the big red ribbon bow); and a little Yiddish girl named Sadie Goronofsky, who liv

hey did not have a chance to speak, for the boys sat

the old Corner House, she had been looking forward to entering school in

eir old associations. There were the usual groups, or cliques. She would ha

anxious to be friendly with; and here Trix was in the very seat

she began the first school session with