"Schoolma'am," asked Jessie Roth, "do ye s'pose ye could learn us tae read as good as them kids did this mornin'?" "Oh, yes. Even better." "Better nor them?" "Indeed, yes, if you will study as hard as they do. One's progress depends upon one's interest and one's application." "Oh, we'll study all right," said Kate Keith, "if you'll give us the chance." "You bet we will!" said another. Then Esther told them the history of the Gila Club for men, how it had begun, how she had taught the men, how the class had grown until it had seemed imperative to meet in the schoolhouse, and how they organized as a club. "Did _you_ learn all them men yourself?" asked a girl just in from the range. She was a veritable Amazon. "Yes," was the answer, "until we began to meet in the schoolhouse. Then I had help." Esther stood looking into this raw girl's face as though she saw there the loveliest being on earth. What the teacher really saw there was an awakening mind and soul. The girl, rough and uncouth as she was, admired the teacher, and longed to be like her. "What can we dae?" asked Jessie Roth, eager to perfect plans for study. "That is just what I wish you girls to decide. What would you like to do?" In response to the teacher's question, all of them spoke at once. "One at a time, please, one at a time," Esther said. "Suppose, we commence with Jessie. What do you wish to do, Jessie?" "Oh, I'd like tae dae cipherin' an' readin' an' writin'. I wisht I could read like you, schoolma'am!" "Could she ever?" questioned Kate Keith, a young English girl. "Certainly." She showed such belief in them and what they might do that their enthusiasm rose still higher. Then Kate said impulsively: "I wisht ye'd learn us to sew. I've been wishin' to know how." She held up her big, coarse hands, looked at them a moment, and laughed as she said: "I don't know as I could handle such a little thing as a needle." "You wish to learn to sew? I am so glad." This was just the turn Esther had been hoping would come. "Every woman," she continued, "ought to know how to sew. I like to sew, myself. What next?" A comely maid spoke. "My name's Mandy Young. Me an' Marthy thought we'd like ter learn ter write letters an'--" Here she blushed furiously. "That's good," said the teacher. "What else?" "Me an' Marthy wanted ter learn ter sing like you do, schoolma'am." "Now, Martha, it is your turn," said the teacher with an encouraging smile. Martha was a great, brawny specimen of humankind. "My name's Miss Lieben," she said. "Lieben! Lieben! That's a good name. It means _love_." The cowlass blushed and snickered. "And Martha's a good name too. There was once a very careful housekeeper named Martha." "Oh, I ain't no housekeeper," responded the girl, "but I want ter be. I want ter learn readin' an' writin', an' cookin', too." "Cooking! Well! Next?" said Esther, looking into the face of the next girl. "My name's Mary Burns."