"The country is too lovely to be spoiled by school books.

Why, that boy has a wounded bird in his desk! I wonder if Miss Harper knows ?" And a moment after, Alice met the bold, defiant look of the boy himself, which seemed to say, "Well, what are you going to do about it?
That bird belongs to me." The history class being called at this moment the big boy got up, shoved the little creature to the farthest corner of his desk and giving Alice a parting scowl, went forward to recite his lesson.
Notwithstanding her desire to befriend the feathered captive she soon became interested in the class and could scarcely refrain from laughing outright at the answer to the teacher's question, "What happened at Bunker Hill ?" "Old Bunker died." This was bawled out by a freckled-faced boy, who reminded her of a rabbit, owing to a fashion he had of twitching his nose and keeping it in motion in some mysterious way.

Even the teacher wanted to laugh, but assuming her sternest manner she speedily restored order.
It was during the arithmetic lesson that Alice's heart went out in pity for the youthful instructor.

The majority of the pupils were bright; but an unruly fraction, one child, refused to comprehend.
"If a family consume a barrel of flour in nine weeks, what part of a barrel will they use in one week, Matilda ?" Matilda rolled her blue eyes up to the ceiling as if to find the answer there, then studied a board in the floor for several minutes, then slowly shook her head and sat down.

A dozen hands were raised, and the teacher nodded permission to a small boy who analyzed it successfully.
"Now, Matilda, you try it." But Matilda shook her head and fidgeted with her apron string.
"Try it, and we will help you," persisted the teacher.
Thus urged, Matilda cleared her throat, folded her arms and began: "If nine persons use a barrel of flour in nine weeks, in one week they would use nine times nine, which is eighty-one." "What! eighty-one barrels?
But, Matilda, it makes no difference about the number of persons.