He did look so silly!" The Edwards youth was not the only one who was made to "look silly" by little Miss Dawes during the first days of her stay in Bayport.

She dealt with the unruly members of her classes as bravely as she had faced the Cahoon cow, and the results were just as satisfactory.

She was strict, but she was impartial, and Alicia Atkins found, to her great surprise, that the daughter of a congressman was expected to study as faithfully and behave herself as well as freckled-faced Noah Hamlin, whose father peddled fish and whose everyday costume was a checkered "jumper" and patched overalls.
The school committee, that is, the majority of it, was delighted with the new teacher.

Lemuel Myrick boasted loudly of his good judgment in voting for her.

But Tad Simpson and Darius Ellis and others of the Atkins following still scoffed and hinted at trouble in the future.
"A new broom sweeps fine," quoted Mr.Simpson.