"Huh! A lot of fuss about a pup, I'll say!" "Oh, _pooh-pooh_, Bill Simpkins!" said Lady S. "Why _shouldn't_ a child croon to a puppy? Folks bring all kinds of animals to my back yard, if sick or hurt. Want to walk around my zoo?" "_No!!_ No zoos for Councilman Simpkins! Animals ain't worth so much fuss!" "Pshaw, Bill! You talk ridiculously! I wish you could know of about half of my works. I want to show you a big Angora cat. A dog bit its foot so I put a balm on it and wound it with cotton----" "You put _balm_ on a _cat's_ foot!! _Bah!_" But Lady Standish didn't mind Old Bill's ravings having known him so long; so said:-- "Oh, how's that old corn of yours? Can't I put a balm----" "_No!_ You cannot! Mary, bring your pup; I'm going along." As a happy tot was passing out that big, kindly front door, Sarah said:-- "Was Councilman Simpkins always so grouchy, Lady Standish?" "No. Not until John Gadsby 'cut him out' and won Lady Gadsby." "Aha!! And a Ho, Ho!!" said Sarah, laughing gayly. "So folks had what you call 'affairs' way back, just as today!" and also laughing inwardly, at what Lucy had said about this kindly Lady Standish and His Honor. Ah! That good old schoolday, now so long past! How it bobs up, now-a-days, if you watch a young lad and a happy, giggling lass holding hands or laughing uproariously at youthful witticisms. And how diaphanous and almost imaginary that far-back day looks, if that girl with whom you stood up and said "I do," laughs, if you try a bit of romantic kissing, and says:-- "Why, John! How silly! You act actually childish!!" * * * * * And now it won't do any harm to hark back a bit on this history, to find how our big Night School is doing. Following that first graduation day, many and many a child, and adult, too, had put in hours on various nights; and if you visit it you will find almost as many forms of instruction going on as you will find pupils; for thousands of folks today know of topics which, with a bit of study, could turn out profitably. Now Branton Hills had, as you know, built this school for public instruction; and, as with all such institutions, visiting days occur. And _what_ a display of goods and workmanship! And what bright, happy pupils, standing proudly back of it! For mankind knows hardly a joy which will surpass that of approval of his work. Gadsby's party first took in a wood-working shop; finding small stands which fit so happily into many a living room nook; book racks for walls or floor; moth-proof bins, smoking stands, many with fancy uprights or inlaid tops; high chairs for tiny tots; arm chairs for old folks; cribs, tobacco humidors, stools, porch and lawn swings, ballbats, rolling pins, mixing boards; in fact about anything that a man can fashion from wood. As an indication of practical utility coming from such public instruction, a man told Gadsby:--