The girl laughed a little shamefacedly. "Oh, I had very big dreams--I have them still. And I had a wonderful opportunity and had to give it up; mother wanted me at home. She isn't well--so I took this position." She made her little story brief, but her eyes told more than her words of the disappointment and self-sacrifice. "Well, mothers always come first. And maybe there's a _different_ way to the stars, Barbara." There was a moment's silence between them. John Westley was the first to break it. "I want your advice, Miss Lee. I believe you're closer to the hearts of these youngsters out here than anyone else. I've something in my mind but I can't just shape it up. I want to build some sort of a scholarship for Lincoln that isn't founded on books. "The trouble is," he went on, "that every school turns out some real scholars--boys and girls with their minds splendidly exercised and stored--and what else? Generally always--broken bodies, physiques that have been neglected and sacrificed in the struggle for learning. Of what use to the world are their minds--then? I've found--and a good many men and women come under my observation--that the well-trained mind is of no earthly value to its owner or to the rest of the world unless it has a well-trained body along with it." "That's my present business," laughed Miss Lee. "I must agree with you." "So I want to found some sort of a yearly award out here at Highacres for the pupil who shows the best record in work--_and_ play." "That will be splendid!" cried Miss Lee, enthusiastically. "Will you help me?" John Westley asked with the diffidence of a schoolboy. "Will you tell me if some of my notions are ridiculous--or impossible?" He picked up one of the sharpened pencils from the desk and drew up a chair. "Now, listen----" and he proceeded to outline the plan he had had in mind for a long time. One week later the Lincoln Award was announced to the pupils of the school. So amazing and unusual was the competition that the school literally buzzed with comments upon it; work for the day was abandoned. Because the award was a substantial sum of money to be spent in an educational way, most of the pupils considered it very seriously. "Ginny Cox has the best chance 'cause she always has the highest marks and she's on all the teams." "It isn't just being on _teams_," contradicted another girl, studying one of the slips of paper which had been distributed and upon which had been printed the rules covering the competition. "It's the number of hours spent in the gym, or in out-of-door exercise. And you get a point for setting-up exercises and for walking a mile each day. And for sleeping with your window open! _Easy!_" "And for drinking five glasses of water a day," laughed another. "And for eating a vegetable every day. And for drinking a glass of milk." "That lets _me_ out. I just loathe milk." "Of course--so do I. But wouldn't you drink it for an award like _that_?"