It was January and cold, cold, cold! The mile up the road to the Jasmer Schoolhouse seemed like a very long mile to Mother and the girls. They wore warm sweaters under their heavy coats and pulled on knitted caps, thick scarves and knitted stockings from their own sheep’s wool.
They carried lunch pails and books, which were sometimes piled on a small sled that they took turns pulling. When Peggy Jean got tired, she got on the sled too, then she tried to hold everything on her lap.
When they reached the schoolhouse, one of the big Jasmer boys, Melrose, would pull her to his house a half a mile farther through the woods. Mrs. Jasmer had agreed that she would be very glad to have Peggy stay with her so the school could be reopened. She was kind to Peggy, but it seemed like a long, lonesome day away from her family.
Melrose had long legs and could run fast. Those rides were most fearful for Peggy. Through the trees they went flying, up and down hills and hollows. She had to hold on as tightly as she could, with hands already stiff with cold.
Some days, Father let Peggy stay with him while he worked at the sawmill at Mr. Brooks’, and she liked that. Often she would sit up on the very top of a huge pile of sawdust where she was safely out of the way of the screaming saws.
From her perch, she could watch the men lift, heave, roll and push the logs onto what they called a conveyor. This carried the logs by huge pulleys into the screeching saws. There, they trimmed off big slabs with bark on them. These the men tossed onto piles to be cut up later for firewood. Again the now neatly trimmed log went into the screaming saw, and this time came out as nice clean boards.
All this time, sawdust was streaming out of the mouth of what looked like a huge, long gooseneck, making another sawdust mountain beside the one Peggy was sitting on. Peggy loved the good, fresh, woodsy smell of the sawdust and the clean new boards.
When Peggy Jean got to feeling cold, she would slide down her sawdust hill and run to the Brooks’ house a short distance away through the woods.
Mrs. Brooks’ face was a nice tan from spending much time in her garden in the summer and from many hours of berry picking. She wore her hair pulled tightly away from her face and twisted into a knot at the very top of her head.
She was always busy, but she had a beautiful, friendly smile. Peggy Jean would slip into a chair behind the table and watch her kneading bread or shaping it into loaves and buns. Sometimes she was rolling out pie crust or “working” butter. The kitchen was always warm from the big, black cook-stove, and it was filled with good smells of food cooking.
When the hungry men came in for their noon meal, Peggy Jean felt very small wedged in-between her father and another big man. How fast the heaping bowls were emptied and refilled, as Mrs. Brooks cheerfully watched the men enjoy what she had prepared.
In the afternoon, Peggy would curl up on the couch for a nap. The first thing she knew, Mother and the girls stopped for her on their way home from school.
Many times Peggy Jean coaxed to go to school with her big sisters. “Do you think you could be quiet, very quiet, if I let you come?” Mother asked. “You could not come running up to me to ask questions. Mother would not even have time to watch what you are doing. I’m afraid it would not work out yet — you had better wait until next winter.”
“Please let me try, Mother,” Peggy coaxed. “I’ll show you how quiet I can be! Let me try just one time and see how good I will be.”
“All right,” Mother finally agreed. “We’ll try just one day and see.”
How big and important Peggy Jean felt the next day as she went into the schoolhouse with the big children. Mother took her to a seat in the back of the room and gave her some paper, crayons and chalk. She told her she could turn around and stand on her seat and write on the blackboard right behind her when she was tired of sitting.
Again Mother reminded her, “You must not talk or even whisper. That will show me if you are really big enough to come to school!”
Peggy was happy! She had missed Mother and her sisters. She enjoyed the books and pictures, but most of all she liked listening to the other children reciting and reading out loud. She also enjoyed watching them at the blackboard. The morning flew by, and before she knew it, it was recess time.
What fun that was! They played “Fox and Geese” in a big, pie-shaped ring in the snow. Then it was “Annie, Annie Over,” as they threw a ball over the schoolhouse. When someone caught it, they raced around to tag the players on the other side.
When Mother stood out on the doorstep and rang a hand-bell, they came running from all sides with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes.
Peggy Jean returned to her seat in the back of the room and looked at her books again. After a while, she decided to stand on her seat and write on the blackboard behind her. Suddenly, the seat began to tip away from the wall! Peggy reached forward, grabbing for the chalk ledge, but the seat had swung too far away for her to reach it. Before she knew what had happened, she lost her balance and pitched forward, falling headfirst between the desk and the wall. As she fell, the seat fell quietly back and caught her by her feet.
There she hung, upside down, her feet caught firmly between the back of her seat and the chalk ledge. Quite a few moments went by, and no one noticed Peggy Jean had disappeared.
Finally, Mother glanced back to see what her little girl was doing. Peggy - why, Peggy Jean was gone. Where could she be?
Quickly she glanced around the room, but nowhere could she see her little girl. Then she saw the little pair of feet caught between the seat and the chalk ledge!
One of the big boys jumped up to help teacher, and together they pulled a frightened little girl with very pink cheeks back into her seat.
That night at supper, they all helped tell Daddy about Peggy’s first day at school and about her mysterious disappearance. “But I didn’t cry! I was quiet like you said, Mother. Don’t you think I’m big enough to go again?” Peggy asked eagerly.
“Yes, you surely are!” Mother said, smiling. “I think your example can teach some of the bigger children how to behave in school.”
Peggy Jean often went to school after that and enjoyed quietly doing things by herself in her own little corner in the back of the room.
Fridays were the special days of the week when, during the last hour of the day, the Bible became their textbook. Mother was a good teacher, and the Bible was the book above all others that she loved to read and to teach from, for the Author was her Savior and Lord.
Week by week, the interest of the boys and girls increased. They memorized verses and listened to the Bible stories. They soon came to realize that these truths are “more to be desired ... than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:1010More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)).