“But you _do_ like to teach, don’t you, Mr. Rowantree?” she said encouragingly. “Paralee met me and told me what a wonderful day it had been for them all, and how you came it over that poor silly Mr. McIntosh. If only you had been given a chance to teach, maybe—” she hesitated, not quite seeing where her speech would lead her. “Maybe I would have stirred my old stumps, eh, Miss Azalea, and not sat around on my gallery giving a bad imitation of a Southern planter, while my lion-hearted little wife used her wit and her strength to provide for the lot of us? Well, now, maybe you’re right. And that reminds me of a plan we evolved among us to-day. That nice red-headed boy—whatever his name is—helped shape the notion.” He told them the idea of the moonlight school and instantly Azalea was on fire with enthusiasm. “Oh, Mr. Rowantree,” she cried, “what a splendid thought—what a shining, glittering thought! It looks just like a king, dressed in white and jewels and with a crown on its head. Let’s make it come true. Carin, you’re the wonderful one for doing things. All I can do is to exclaim, but you go off and do them. Make this come true, Carin! I couldn’t bear to have it stay merely a dream.” “It is a glorious idea,” said Carin. “I suppose men and women were quite happy in the old days, Mr. Rowantree, in ignorance. My father says some of the old, unlettered peasants were very wise, and that they had valuable knowledge they passed on from father to son. But in these days it certainly does seem terrible for a man or woman not to know how to read or write, particularly here in our country where everyone should have a chance.” “That’s it,” cried Aunt Zillah, who was a great patriot; “in this glorious country where everyone ought to be given a chance! That’s the promise we’ve held out to those who come to our shores, and it’s that which helps me to overlook so many things that seem wrong in our dear land. Greedy we may be, and disgraced by the scheming and grafting of our politicians, but after all, it is here that the ignorant are educated and the lowly learn to lift up their heads. Oh, I’m proud to be an American, and if I had my life to live over again I would devote it to some cause that would help on the real Americanism. Now, here’s Azalea, God bless her. She’s going to work among the mountaineers. What could be more fitting? The child has just the nature for the task, and her experiences have helped her to understand many things that a more carefully sheltered girl could not have understood.” “I hope she’ll marry happily and keep in her own home,” said Mr. Rowantree shortly, while Azalea colored scarlet and was grateful for the gloom that hid her face. “I’m an old-fashioned man and I like to see a woman in her home. As one of the chief of Miss Azalea’s friends I do not desire a public career for her.” Even in the dusk Miss Zillah’s head could be seen shaking emphatically.