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“I wish she hadn’t gone!” Laura burst out, but Ma said she must not feel so.
“She is doing so well in her studies, and it is wonderful that she is learning so many things—running a sewing machine, and playing the organ, and doing such pretty beadwork.”
They both looked toward the small vase made of tiny beads, blue and white, strung on fine wire, that Mary had made and sent home for them all for Christmas. It stood on the desk near Laura. She went to it and stood fingering the bead fringe around it as Ma talked on.
“I am a little worried about how we are going to find the money for the new summer clothes she needs, and we must manage to send her a little spending money. She should have a Braille slate of her own, too. They are expensive.”
“I’ll be sixteen, two months from now,” Laura said hopefully. “Maybe I can get a certificate next summer.”
“If you can teach a term next year, we may be able to have Mary come home for a summer vacation,” said Ma. “She has been away so long, she ought to come home for a little while, and it would cost only the railroad fare. But we must not count our chickens befo
re they are hatched.”
“I’d better be studying, anyway,” Laura sighed. She was ashamed of her moping idleness, when Mary had the patience to do such perfect work with tiny beads that she could not see.
Ma took up her paper again and Laura bent over her books, but she could not rouse herself from her listlessness.
From the window, Carrie announced, “Mr. Boast is coming! And there’s another man with him. That’s him now, at the door!”
“‘That is he,’” said Ma.
Laura opened the door and Mr. Boast came in, saying, “How do you do, everyone? This is Mr. Brewster.”
Mr. Brewster’s boots, his thick jacket and his hands showed that he was a homesteader. He did not have much to say.
“How do you do?” said Ma as she placed chairs for them both. “Mr. Ingalls is over in town somewhere. How is Mrs. Boast? I am disappointed that she did not come with you.”
“I didn’t plan to come,” said Mr. Boast. “We just stepped in to speak to this young lady,” and his black eyes flashed a look at Laura.
She was very much startled. She sat very straight, as Ma had taught her, with her hands folded in her lap and her shoes drawn back beneath her skirts, but her breath caught. She could not think what Mr. Boast meant.
He went on. “Lew Brewster, here, is looking for a teacher for the new school they are starting in their district. He came in to the School Exhibition last night. He figures that Laura’s the teacher they want, and I tell him he can’t do better.”
Laura’s heart seemed to leap and fall back, and go on falling.
“I am not old enough yet,” she said.
“Now, Laura,” Mr. Boast said to her earnestly, “there is no need to tell your age unless someone asks you. The question is, Will you teach this school if the county superintendent gives you a certificate?”
Laura was speechless. She looked at Ma and Ma asked, “Where is the school, Mr. Brewster?”
“Twelve miles south of here,” Mr. Brewster replied.
Laura’s heart sank even further. So far from home, among strangers, she would have to depend entirely upon herself, with no help at all. She could not come home until the school term was over. Twelve miles and back was too far to travel.
Mr. Brewster went on, “It’s a small neighborhood. The country around there isn’t settled up yet. We can’t afford more than a two-month’s school, and all we can pay is twenty dollars a month and board.”
“I’m sure that seems a reasonable sum,” said Ma.
It would be forty dollars, Laura thought. Forty dollars! She had not realized that she could earn so much money.
“Mr. Ingalls would rely on your advice, I know, Mr. Boast,” Ma added.
“Lew Brewster and I knew each other back East,” said Mr. Boast. “It’s a good chance for Laura if she’ll take it.”
Laura was so excited she could hardly speak. “Why, yes,” she managed to stammer. “I would be glad to teach the school if I could.”
“Then we must hurry along,” said Mr. Boast as he and Mr. Brewster stood up. “Williams is in town, and if we can catch him before he starts home, he’ll come over and give you the examination right now.”
