He made up a fine marching tune, and Elizabeth liked it very much for she loved music. She wondered if she was supposed to learn music at Whyteleafe. Miss Scott had taught her at home, but Miss Scott was not musical and Elizabeth had not enjoyed her lessons at all.
Out marched the children to their classrooms. “You are in Miss Ranger’s class,” said Ruth, poking Elizabeth in the back. “Come with me and I’ll show you.” Elizabeth followed Ruth. She came to a big sunny classroom, and into it poured six boys and nine girls. all about Elizabeth’s age.
“Bags I this desk,” squealed Ruth. “I like to be by the window!” She put her things into the desk. The other children chose their desks too, but the new ones were told to wait till Miss Ranger came. Ruth sprang to hold the door open as soon as she heard Miss Ranger’s rather loud voice down the passage.
In came Miss Ranger. “Good morning, children!” “Good morning, Miss Ranger,” said everyone but Elizabeth.
“All the old children can sit, but the new ones must stand whilst I give them their places,” said Miss Ranger. She gave Elizabeth a desk at the back. Elizabeth was glad. It would be a good place to be naughty in! She meant to be bad in class that very morning, The sooner that everyone knew how naughty she meant to be, the sooner she would be sent home, Books were given out. “We will take a reading lesson first,” said Miss Ranger, who wanted to make sure that the new children could read properly. “Then Dictation-then Arithmetic!” Elizabeth could read beautifully, spell well, and she liked arithmetic. She couldn’t help feeling that it was rather fun to do lessons with a lot of people instead of by herself! When her turn came she read very nicely indeed, though she had a great many difficult words in her page.
“Very good, Elizabeth,” said Miss Ranger. “Next.
please.” Elizabeth got all her dictation right. She thought it was very easy. Miss Ranger took a red pencil and marked “VERY GOOD” on Elizabeth’s page. Elizabeth looked at it proudly-and then she suddenly remembered that she had meant to be naughty! “This won’t do!” she said to herself. “I can’t get Very Goods like this-they’ll never send me home. I’d better be naughty.” She wondered what to do. She looked at Ruth by the window, and wondered if she could flip her rubber at her and hit her. She took her ruler, fitted her rubber against the end of it, bent it back and let it go. Whizzzzzz! The rubber flew across the schoolroom and hit Ruth on the left ear! “Ooooh!” said Ruth, in surprise. She looked round and saw Elizabeth’s grinning face. Others began to giggle when they saw Ruth’s angry look.
Elizabeth grew bolder. She folded up a bit of paper. and flipped it at Helen, who sat m front. But Helen moved her head, and the pellet of paper flew past her and landed on Miss Ranger’s desk. She looked up.
“Playtime is for things like this,” she said. “Not lesson-time. Who did that?” Elizabeth didn’t answer, Miss Ranger looked up and down the rows. “WHO DID THAT?” she said again. The boy next to Elizabeth poked her bard with his ruler.
“Own up!” he whispered. “If you don’t we’ll all be kept in.” So Elizabeth owned up. “I did it,” she said.
“Well, Elizabeth, perhaps you would like to know that I don’t allow behaviour like that in my class,” said Miss Ranger. “Don’t do it again.” “I shall if I want to,” said Elizabeth. Everybody looked at her in amazement. Miss Ranger was surprised.
“You must be very bored with these lessons to want to flip paper about,” she said. “Go outside the room and stay there till you feel it would bore you less to come back than to stand outside. I don’t mind how long you stand there, but I do mind anybody being bored in my class. Now, children, get out your paint-boxes, please.” There was a clatter as the desks were opened and paint-boxes were taken out. Elizabeth loved painting and was very good at it. She wanted to stay. She sat on in her desk and didn’t move, “Elizabeth! Go outside, please,” said Miss Ranger.
There was no help for it then-up Elizabeth got and went outside the door.
“You may come back when you think you can really behave yourself, and not disturb my class,” said Miss Ranger.
It was very dull standing outside the door. Elizabeth wondered if she should wander away and have a swing. No-she might meet the Beauty and the Beast! Ha ha! She was being naughty all right! But it was dull standing so long outside a door and hearing happy talking coming from inside, as the children painted blue and pink lupins that Miss Ranger had brought in. Elizabeth couldn’t bear it any longer. She opened the door and went in.
“I can behave myself now,” she said, in a low voice to Miss Ranger. Miss Ranger nodded, without a smile.
“Take your place,” she said. “There’s no time for you to do any painting-you can do a few more sums!” “Sums again!” thought Elizabeth angrily. “Well- I’ll just be bad as soon as ever I can think of something really naughty again!” CHAPTER 7.
The First School Meeting.
THAT evening, after tea, the first Meeting was held. The whole school attended it, and Miss Belle, Miss Best, and Mr. Johns came too. They sat at the back and did not seem to be taking a great deal of notice of what was going on.
“But all the same, they never miss a word!” said Ruth to Belinda. who was feeling just a little scared of this first important Meeting.
The two Head Children of the school, a grave-looking girl called Rita, and a merry-eyed boy called William, sat at a large table in the gym, where the Meeting was held. They were the Judges. Twelve other children, six boys and six girls, big and small, sat round a table just in front of the two judges. They were called the Jury. All the others sat on forms around.
At first Elizabeth had thought she would not go to the Meeting. Then she had felt rather curious about it, and decided to go just this one time. She had seen a notice on the notice-board that said. “Please bring all the money you have,” and she had brought hers in her purse-though she was quite determined not to give it up if she were asked to do so.
All the children stood up when the two Judges and the two mistresses and master came into the room-all but Elizabeth! However she got up in a great hurry when she felt Ruth’s hard fingers digging into her back to make her move! She glared round at Ruth, and was just going to speak angrily to her when there was the sound of a hammer being rapped on a table, “Sit, please,” said one of the Judges. Everyone sat. Elizabeth saw that there was a wooden hammer or mallet on the table in front of the Judges, and also a large notebook and some sheets of paper. There was a large box as well, like a big money-box. It all looked important and exciting.
“The twelve children round the smaller table are the monitors,” whispered Helen to Elizabeth. “They are chosen by us all every month.” Elizabeth saw that Nora was at the Jury table, and so was the boy she had kicked the day before. She didn’t know any of the others, except Eileen, the girl who had been kind to her yesterday.
The girl Judge rose in her seat and spoke clearly to the school. “This is our first Meeting this term,” she said. “We have very little to do to-day, because school only opened yesterday, but we must just make our Rules clear to the new children, and we must also take in the money. We do not need to choose new monitors because we elected those at the last Meeting of the Easter term. You see them at the Jury table. They will remain monitors for one month unless any Meeting decides to choose others instead. As you know, monitors are chosen for their common sense, their loyalty to the school and its ideas, and their good character, They must be obeyed, because you yourselves have chosen them.” The girl Judge stopped and looked down at a paper she held, on which she had written notes to remind her of what she wanted to say. She looked round at the listening children.
“We have very few rules,” she said. “One rule is that we place all the money we get into this box, and we draw from it two shillings a week each. The rest of the money is used to buy anything that any of you especially want-but you have to state at the weekly Meeting what you need the money for, and the Jury will decide if you may have it.” One or two of the children clinked their money as if they would like to put it into the box at once. The Judges smiled. “You’ll be able to give your money in a minute,” said the girl Judge. “Now, to go on with our Rules. The second rule is that if we have any complaint at all, we must bring it to the Meeting and announce it there, so that everyone may hear it, and decide what is to be done with it.