[Sidenote: Fun]
One snowy afternoon in January, when the fifth grade of the Lincoln
School was busy to a man preparing the spelling lesson with which the
day closed, the energetic silence was broken suddenly by a little
gurgling giggle. It rippled through the room with almost electric
intensity, and every boy and girl looked up, on the _qui vive_ for the
joke.
Miss Key, who had been correcting papers at her desk, looked up, too, an
expectant smile upon her lips.
“Something funny, Bernice?” she said to the giggler, affectionate
tolerance in her voice.
“Yes’m,” answered Bernice. “Bert has a picture in his tablet of a big
pile of round things, and it says something funny underneath. He showed
it to me.”
“Bert shouldn’t have shown it to you when you were studying your
spelling lesson, should he?” suggested Miss Key.
“No’m, I know he oughtn’t to.”
“But since Bert showed it to you, I think he should show it to the rest
of us too, so we can all enjoy it together. What is it, Bert?”
Bert flushed, and rather shamefacedly held up his tablet. Under the “big
pile of round things” was this legend:
KIND REDER, THIS IS NOT A PILE OF ORNAGES. IT IS MY SPELING
GRADES FOR LAST MONTH.
As Bert was the poorest speller in the room, this exhibit caused a
general laugh. He had often been known to miss every word in the lesson.
Miss Key laughed with the rest, heartily; but when she raised her hand
after a moment, everyone stopped as though automatically shut off, and
settled down again to study as Miss Key said,
“You’ll try not to add another zero to your list tonight, won’t you,
Bert?”
Miss Key enjoyed fun, and was so close to her pupils that she
appreciated their kind of humor. It was understood in her room that if
an incident was funny enough to be laughed at, it should be shared by
all who might enjoy it.
The absence of an artificial condemnation of fun made Bernice and Bert
perfectly frank in explaining the cause of their mirth, which prevented
any misunderstanding with the teacher. The sunny atmosphere of trust and
humorous appreciation of situations made it possible for Miss Key to
secure strict observance of the signal to stop laughing and go to work.