A Daughter of the Land

"It will make a very difficult winter for you, Katherine," said

Agatha. "When Nancy Ellen becomes interested in dresses and

table linen and bedding she will want to sew all the time, and

leave the cooking and dishes for you as well as your schoolwork."

Kate turned toward Agatha in surprise. "But I won't be there! I

told you I had taken a school."

"You taken a school!" shouted Adam. "Why, didn't they tell you

that Father has signed up for the home school for you?"

"Good Heavens!" said Kate. "What will be to pay now?"

"Did you contract for another school?" cried Adam.

"I surely did," said Kate slowly. "I signed an agreement to teach

the village school in Walden. It's a brick building with a

janitor to sweep and watch fires, only a few blocks to walk, and

it pays twenty dollars a month more than the home school where you

can wade snow three miles, build your own fires, and freeze all

day in a little frame building at that. I teach the school I have

taken."

"And throw our school out of a teacher? Father could be sued, and

probably will be," said Adam. "And throw the housework Nancy

Ellen expected you to do on her," said Agatha, at the same time.

"I see," said Kate. "Well, if he is sued, he will have to settle.

He wouldn't help me a penny to go to school, I am of age, the debt

is my own, and I don't owe it to him. He's had all my work has

been worth all my life, and I've surely paid my way. I shall

teach the school I have signed for."

"You will get into a pretty kettle of fish!" said Adam.

"Agatha, will you sell me your telescope for what you paid for it,

and get yourself a new one the next time you go to Hartley? It is

only a few days until time to go to my school, it opens sooner

than in the country, and closes later. The term is four months

longer, so I earn that much more. I haven't gotten a telescope

yet. You can add it to my first payment."

"You may take it," said Agatha, "but hadn't you better reconsider,

Katherine? Things are progressing so nicely, and this will upset

everything for Nancy Ellen."

"That taking the home school will upset everything for me, doesn't

seem to count. It is late, late to find teachers, and I can be

held responsible if I break the contract I have made. Father can

stand the racket better than I can. When he wouldn't consent to

my going, he had no business to make plans for me. I had to make

my own plans and go in spite of him; he might have known I'd do

all in my power to get a school. Besides, I don't want the home

school, or the home work piled on me. My hands look like a human

being's for the first time in my life; then I need all my time

outside of school to study and map out lessons. I am going to try

for a room in the Hartley schools next year, or the next after

that, surely. They sha'n't change my plans and boss me, I am

going to be free to work, and study, and help myself, like other

teachers."