The Mistake of the Algebra Class.
By Religious Herald
THE last recitation hour of the morning was drawing to a close, and as there was to be no school that afternoon, the boys in Mr. Thomas' algebra class felt a little impatient at the delay of their teacher in assigning the lesson for the next day. Finally he looked up and said, "The next problem is much more difficult than any you have yet worked; therefore, I shall give you only that one, and shall expect a perfect lesson from each of you; the class is excused." No sooner were they outside the door than the boys began to talk of the game of ball for that afternoon. "Now don't you fail of being on time," several of them said in concert to Will Manning, who was proverbially late. "Do you hear?" they called, as he made no reply. But he only said, "How about the problem? You know algebra comes first Thursday morning; if we don't get our lessons before we play, I'm afraid we shall be too tired." "Now, Will," they all exclaimed, "don't you see, Mr. Thomas meant we should have the whole afternoon, so he only gave us this one?" "I, for one, shall study first," said Will, resolutely, "and if there's time I'll come down to the play-ground." But although the rest were, or pretended to be, always out of patience with Will, they felt that they could not play even a part of the afternoon without him, so they further urged. "We'll all take hold together after tea and work that problem in much less time than we are using now in lingering here talking about it." "I don't know about that," said Will, "and then there's Miss Marshall." At this the boys laughed outright, and Dick Stanley said:— "Who's going to be afraid of that little shadow? I'm not, and if you are, perhaps you'd better go over and get her to help you work the problem." "I wish she were out of the class, she spoils its symmetrical appearance," said Harry Martin, who had a fancy for using long words, but often failed in his recitations. "There isn't a bit of style to her," said Percy Evans, who thought it smart to be on Harry's side, "she has worn the same dress every day this term." "And every day this term has had a perfect lesson," said Will Manning. This last the rest could not deny, and finding Will determined to secure the lesson first, they proposed to meet at the academy directly after dinner, and work the problem before going to the ball-ground. So they made a grand attack upon it, but after two hours' hard work even Will Manning was ready to say it was out of the question to solve it, and there was nothing to fear from Miss Marshall. So they hastened off to the play-ground, forgetting all about next day's lesson. Having slept the sleep of thoroughly tired boys, they awoke late the next morning and went down to the academy with little thought about the problem except that the solving was impossible, at least for pupils no further advanced than they. These seven lads were the sons of wealthy gentlemen who had felt annoyed all the term at having the 'looks of the class spoiled' by such an inferior-looking girl. Her mother took in washing and she never went into society. The day before she too had considered the problem and resolved to ask her mother for a little extra time, for she thought, "I do hate to fail, and on such a short lesson, too," but when she got home she found an extra washing had been sent in, and she could not think of saying anything about her lesson, so, getting a general idea of the problem, she thought it out while helping her mother, and early next morning put it on paper. The boys took their seats in the class with a confident air, and Sydney Ames whispered to Will Manning, "Just see how dull she looks, the idea of your being afraid of her." Just then Mr. Thomas struck the bell, and looking up, said, "Let each one who has obtained the correct answer to the problem raise his hand." The amused looks exchanged between the boys as their teacher spoke were quickly exchanged for those of surprise and mortification, as they saw him looking approvingly in the direction of Annie Marshall's seat, and saw that her hand was raised. Then he fixed his large, pleasant eyes upon them, and it seemed to them it was a full half hour before he spoke. Then he slowly said, "Boys, I should think you would be quite ashamed to have the youngest member of your class, a young lady, too, show greater perseverance than you." There was nothing left for the boys but to make the best of the matter, and they frankly confessed to each other that "Annie was a real lady, for she never showed a bit of triumphant feeling," and they well knew she had worked under difficulties, for she was hanging out clothes the afternoon before when they went by the house to their play-ground. The secret of this was that Annie was trying to live a Christian life, and never went to school without asking for help to show the spirit of Christ in all she did. Could the boys have looked into her heart they would have seen that she was by no means indifferent to the praise her teacher bestowed, and also that she felt a strong inclination to look down upon them; but in a moment she remembered how humble her social position was compared with theirs, and the thought of how mortified she should be if in any of their places, made her pity them; glad of her success indeed she was, for many years afterward, when fortune's wheel had turned in her favor and she had received many quite flattering tokens of esteem from persons of high social position, she told a friend that the proudest moment of her life was when she found her hand was the only one raised in that algebra class. "I'll tell you what 'tis," said Charlie Hall, who was generally spokesman for the boys, "there's more to that meek-looking little girl than we imagined; but we might as well yield gracefully, and I propose that we wait on Mr. Thomas and ask him to invite her to put that work on the board and explain it to us tomorrow. I for one am sorry that I said what I did about her yesterday." Mr. Thomas was very glad to comply with their request, and the next morning Miss Annie was surprised to be called on to explain her method to these lads, who politely questioned her about the difficult parts of the work. She would have been not only surprised but very glad had she known that her gentle, lady-like manner through the whole had made them feel that there was something in her religion worth having.—Religious Herald.