THE FOCUS
18
dears looked up at me with confident eyes that seemed to say, "Of course you'll open the door for us. You're so big and strong and competent." "And I am," I said to myself and charged the door. Fifteen minutes later I asked one of the kids to go to a little house not far down the road and get me a little
hammer. While we were waiting I heard a shrill whistle and the children began talking at once. Finally, I thought I understood what it was all about. The mail man always blew a whistle when he passed so that the teacher could get her mail and send any she had. "How nice," I thought. So I went out and saw the mail man and got a card to send mama. "Dear Mama," I wrote. "I'm crazy about teaching and the children are darlings. I'll try to write you all about it this afternoon." When we were all in, I could find no bell and so I merely said, "School has begun." There was a dispute as to where they should sit. I wanted them all to adore their teacher and I disliked to seem to favor any so I put them all where they did not want to go and they all got mad. I decided that the first thing to do would be to get their names. My mind went back to my own school days and I said, "All of you get a slip of paper and write on it your name and the grade to which you belong." Immediately all those tiny ones who had never been to school before cried, "But we can't write!" How stupid of me! Of course they couldn't. My nice little plan was all upset. I got a piece of paper and started at the first one. "What's your name?" I asked. "Shug," was the brief answer. all
"What!"
I
exclaimed.
"Shug." "Shug what?" I asked. "I don't know. Just Shug." From the other children, I found out that he was