{"product_id":"2940013613102","title":"CHARLIE NEWCOMER","description":"CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAT THE RINGGOLD SCHOOL.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hurry up Charlie, for as soon as we get our dinner over, we want to\u003cbr\u003eplay base-ball, and you're on our side, you know,\" called one of the\u003cbr\u003escholars of the Ringgold school to Charlie Newcomer, as he was going\u003cbr\u003ehome at noon for his dinner. Charlie's home was only a few rods from\u003cbr\u003ethe school house, and on the same side of the road.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"All right, boys, I will,\" he answered in return, and in a minute more\u003cbr\u003ehe was home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDinner was not ready when he reached home, for his mamma had been\u003cbr\u003eputting out her washing that forenoon. So he brought the water and\u003cbr\u003ethen went to the cellar for the bread and butter while his mamma made\u003cbr\u003ethe gravy, and dinner was soon on the table. While they were eating,\u003cbr\u003eCharlie said, \"Do you think, mamma, I can get up head this afternoon?\u003cbr\u003eI've studied my lessons very well.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't know, indeed,\" said his mamma, \"you cannot unless some one\u003cbr\u003eabove you should make a mistake, and the other scholars are as anxious\u003cbr\u003eto stand well as you are.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"They're awful hard lessons, and surely some one will miss, and I'm\u003cbr\u003ejust waiting for a chance like that. You know I hate to be foot,\" he\u003cbr\u003econtinued, \"and if I hadn't 'a' missed that day three weeks ago, I\u003cbr\u003ewould have been head now.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had finished his dinner before his mother and little sister, and\u003cbr\u003ewas off to school while they were yet at the table.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe boys in the play ground had changed their minds about playing\u003cbr\u003ebase-ball, from the fact that some wanted to begin playing right away,\u003cbr\u003ewhile others wanted to wait for the return of those who had gone home\u003cbr\u003efor dinner. Some wanted to choose new sides, and others wanted to\u003cbr\u003eremain as they had been the day before; and yet others, as they said,\u003cbr\u003e\"didn't want to play anyhow,\" and in the midst of so many voices, they\u003cbr\u003eall went to playing \"Drop the handkerchief,\" girls and boys together.\u003cbr\u003eCharlie was especially fond of playing \"Drop the handkerchief,\" and\u003cbr\u003ewhen he saw it was that game instead of ball, it did not take long\u003cbr\u003euntil he was at it with all his might. Adding his kerchief to those\u003cbr\u003ealready afloat, he ran around the large circle never faster.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrown up people sometimes wonder how it is that children are willing\u003cbr\u003eto play until they are all in a perspiration, but children just as\u003cbr\u003ewell wonder at grown up people for working with the same result.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ringing of the school bell brought the game to a close. Nearly all\u003cbr\u003eof the scholars went at once into the house, while a few lingered on\u003cbr\u003ethe porch to get a drink of water and cool off a little before going\u003cbr\u003ein.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow quiet it seems just after all the boys and girls are called from\u003cbr\u003ethe play-ground to their books.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe school building at Ringgold is at one end of the town, and the\u003cbr\u003etown is a little, long one, right on the top of a large, long hill. On\u003cbr\u003eeither side you can see the mountains, and from Ringgold to the\u003cbr\u003emountain eastward, even away up on the side of the mountain, are\u003cbr\u003ethousands and thousands of peach trees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: THE RINGGOLD SCHOOLHOUSE.]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWithin the school house is work. Class after class is called up to\u003cbr\u003erecite, and in some of them not many changes are made as to the standing\u003cbr\u003eof the pupils. In most of the classes the method of trapping is used.\u003cbr\u003eWhenever any one mis-spells a word or makes a mistake on a problem, the\u003cbr\u003enext one below him has a chance at it; if he misses, the next has a\u003cbr\u003echance, and so on until the one is found who can make right the error,\u003cbr\u003ethen that one traps and goes up above all who have missed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEver since Charlie had been absent that one day, he had been working\u003cbr\u003eespecially hard to win his accustomed place at the head of his\u003cbr\u003eclasses, for whoever missed a day had to \"go foot.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat afternoon because the lessons were rather difficult, he hoped to\u003cbr\u003eget near to his old place, if not to reach it altogether. When the\u003cbr\u003efirst class was called, his heart beat just a little faster than while\u003cbr\u003ehe was preparing his lesson. As he arose from his seat to go, he\u003cbr\u003ebreathed a little prayer to God, that he might remember well what he\u003cbr\u003ehad just been learning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeveral problems were missed and as many times somebody trapped up. But\u003cbr\u003enot every problem that others had mistaken reached Charlie. One time he\u003cbr\u003ethought he would now trap three, when he himself missed, and another got\u003cbr\u003eit. In trapping, however, the close of the recitation found him \"third\"\u003cbr\u003ebut not \"first.\" And so the class was dismissed for that day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe last in the afternoon was the spelling class. The teacher\u003cbr\u003efrequently began to pronounce the words on the lower part of the page\u003cbr\u003efirst. \"Tournament\" was the first word to-day. The next was\u003cbr\u003e\"constitute.\" \"Coadjutor\" was Charlie's first word to spell.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147531239664,"sku":"2940013613102","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013613102_p0.jpg?v=1763583022","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013613102","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}