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another. This came as a matter of course with his small salary . But he wouldn't stay at Hank's or Sarah Ellen's because neither had "a man of the house." Sarah Ellen and Hank ran all the way home that first day. "Rennie will be so lonesome by herself," they agreed. Rennie was watching from the front porch. 26 It wasn't long before Mr. Tate got his chance to meet Rennie. It had begun raining just a little after school began one day—not a heavy rain, just a steady fall that kept up all day. He didn't let the children out for recess, only the brave ones that had a call from nature and had to go to the outhouse . He tried to keep the children amused by letting them sing songs. Noon came and still the rain kept coming down. They ate their dinner inside. It was so dark there was no thought of trying to have regular classes. Some of the boys built a fire in the stove, "jest to take the chill out of the air." By afternoon Mr. Tate was at his wits' end. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't send the students home because by now he could hear the roar of water in the creek, and he knew it was rising higher and higher. As the day wore on the larger children became hard to control and the smaller ones were beginning to get frightened. He tried to have a spelling bee, but there was such a difference in their ability to spell that it didn't hold their interest for long. He was almost ready to cry, but he mustn't let the small ones know that he was as frightened as they were. He went over to one of the windows to see if the rain had lightened up any. That's when he saw someone coming around the hillside far above the road, even above the fence that ran along the pasture fields. He couldn't tell if it was a 158 woman or a man. The person was bundled up and using a long stick but kept sliding and slipping, getting up and coming on toward the schoolhouse. Mr. Tate stood there and watched until the person turned in at the school yard. Then he went to open the door. At the same moment he opened the door from the inside, the person opened it from the outside and tumbled in, almost falling. She had on a man's overcoat and a man's floppy hat, and under her arms she carried a large bundle. A yell of "Rennie," and Sarah Ellen came running. "I knowed ye'd come. I jest knowed that ye would." Rennie dropped the bundle and clasped Sarah Ellen to one side and Hank to the other. "Stand back and let me get out of this coat and hat so's I can see what I'm doin'." Rennie looked up and a blush gathered on her face as she met the eyes of the teacher. "I hated to disturb yer classes," she said, "but the road is washed in some places. I jest had to get the childern to the house as soon as I could." "My name is Richard Tate," he said as he offered her his hand, "and you must be Rennie. I've heard so much about you." "All good, I hope." She smiled, and that smile changed her whole face. Her fright was now gone. She took his hand. Mr. Tate got a shock of surprise when he took her hand, it was so hard and rough. It didn't match the gentleness of her eyes as she stooped down and put one arm around Sarah Ellen and the other around Hank and gave them each a tight hug and placed a kiss on the cheek of her little sister. "She's been real frightened," he thought. "What a woman. I must get to know her better." "I'll take 'em to the house now, if ye don't mind." And then to the children she said, "I brought ye some coats to bundle up in." "Mind? I'm so glad. I don't know what to do with the rest of them. I wish someone would come get the others." He spoke in a low voice, not wanting to frighten the children. "I'll take all that are goin' my way...
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