"My head ached sadly before recess, and I fear I was impatient with you.
Your good conduct since has convinced me that I must have been in fault.
I thank you, my dear girls, for your love and kindness, and hope you
will forgive my faults as freely as I do yours. School is dismissed."
Instantly she was surrounded by all the girls and showered with kisses.
"We have been very wicked," said Marcia Lewis, "and it is not your fault
at all."
Little Libbie Denny then related the whole story of the conspiracy, and
when she told the part that Mary Paine had taken, Miss Capron put her
arm about Mary, and kissing her, said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called the children of God."
"Well, my dears," she added, "which was best, looking for frowns or for
smiles?"
"O, the smiles," said they all together.
"I wish you might learn a lesson from this, to remember all through your
lives. Overlook the bad and seek for what is good in everybody; and so
you will help to make both yourselves and others happier and better.
What is the lesson, girls?"
And each voice responded, "We will overlook the bad, and seek only for
what is good in those around us."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]