I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread of a scolding, especially because Mr. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles, and I did not know the first word about them.

For a moment I thought of running away and spending the day out of doors.

It was so warm, so bright!

The birds were chirping at the edge of the woods; and in the open field back of the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were drilling.

It was all much more tempting than the rule for participles, but I had the strength to resist, and hurried off to school.

When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the bulletin-board.

For the last two years all our bad news had come from there -- the lost battles, the draft, the orders of the commanding officer -- and I thought to myself, without stopping, "What can be the matter now?" Then, as I hurried by as fast as I could go, the blacksmith, Wachter, who was there, with his apprentice, reading the bulletin, called after me, "Don't go so fast, bub; you'll get to your school in plenty of time!" I thought he was making fun of me, and reached Mr. Hamel's little garden all out of breath.