ON the morning of the 1st of September, Alvin dressed himself handsomely and went out the pike to the schoolhouse. The school board had, at his request, advanced his first month's salary, and with a part of it, though he was not to be married until January, he had paid the rent of the little house on Main Street, and with the rest he had bought a present for Bessie. It must be confessed that no generous spirit dictated Alvin's giving of gifts. It was a proper thing to give girls presents, thereby one made an impression upon them and upon their friends. But it also deprived the giver of luxuries. Alvin had begun to anticipate eagerly the time when he would no longer need to make presents to Bessie. Bessie was a saleswoman in a store in a county seat; she received good wages and lived at home. "What I earn is mine," she explained. "My pop buys even some of my clothes for me. I need only buy my fancy clothes. I have a nice account in the bank." Bessie was a thrifty soul; she had made Alvin persuade his landlord, Billy Knerr, the elder, to take two dollars a month less than he had asked at first for the little house. She had planned already the style of furniture she wished for each room. "It is to be oak in the dining-room," Alvin explained to Sarah Ann Mohr, with whom he took his meals. Alvin had reached that point in his self-satisfaction when he would have bragged to stones and trees if there had been no human creature at hand to listen. In Sarah Ann he had an eager hearer. Sarah Ann sat at close attention with parted lips and shining eyes. Sometimes she cried out, "Du liefer Friede" (Thou dear peace)! or, "Bei meiner Seele" (By my soul)! "There is to be a sideboard and a serving-table to match," went on Alvin. Sarah Ann opened her mouth a little wider. "What is a serving-table, Alvin?" "A serving-table is a--it is--a--a table," explained Alvin. "You serve on it." "Oh, of course," said Sarah Ann, without understanding in the least. "I am astonished, Alvin!" "We are just going to furnish two bedrooms now. When we have a servant, then it will be time enough to furnish the other room." Sarah Ann's eyelids fluttered up and down. "A servant! Ach, Alvin, I hope you are not going to marry a sick one!" "Of course not," protested Alvin. "Of course not, Sarah Ann!" Alvin's chest expanded, he breathed deeply. "Ladies in the city do not do their own work, Sarah Ann!" "Ladies!" repeated Sarah Ann. Here was the capstone of Alvin's grandeur. A lady was to Millerstown almost a mythical creature. "Are you, then, marrying a lady, Alvin?" "To be sure," answered Alvin. "She never yet had to work in a kitchen. She is in the store just because she likes it. Her pop is rich." "Do you mean she cannot cook, Alvin? Or wash? Or bake?" "She could," said Alvin. "She could if she wanted to. But she doesn't like it."