[Sidenote: Diversion]
Miss Baker was sitting at her desk correcting papers after eating her
noon-time lunch, when in came a group of whispering little girls who
showed even in their manner of walking that they had something important
to tell.
When Miss Baker looked up, Nancy Reed said, “Orvil Harn and ‘Jud’ Hicks
are going to fight.”
“O, hurry up, Miss Baker, they are going to fight right now,” said Lora
Yoder.
Miss Baker hurried out and found a crowd of boys around Orvil and
Judson, urging them to fight.
She stepped into the middle of the ring and giving a hand to each of the
combatants said, “I want to hear about this; let us go into the house.”
The boys complied reluctantly.
On the way in, she noticed an ant hill by the walk and stopped a minute
to look at it, saying, “I am so much interested in ants. They have so
many sensible habits. Don’t you like to read about them?” she said,
smiling down at the boys.
On the way to the schoolroom she told a funny story about an ant that
floated down a river on a leaf. The boys were looking at each other
smiling before they thought of why they had come into the house.
“Now,” said Miss Baker, “you tell me what troubled you out there in the
yard, Orvil.”
“‘Jud’ took my cap and ran with it.”
“He pushed and kicked me as we went out to play,” said Judson.
Miss Baker looked out of the window a moment and then said,
“What do you think is best to do about it now, boys?”
“O, I guess it’s all right now,” said Orvil.
“Let’s go out and play. Will you come with us, Miss Baker?” said Judson.
“Gladly,” she replied.
She knew that the boys had lost their anger when they had laughed
together about the ants. She asked them what had been the trouble in
order to make them see that even their griefs were of interest to her.
She was not at all surprised to find their anger forgotten so soon. She
went to play with them in order that she might thus protect them from
the remarks of the other boys who would have enjoyed seeing a fight.
(6) _Fighting due to classmates’ ridicule._ Children are exceedingly
thoughtless in regard to making fun of individuals who are markedly
different from other members of the group. Only vigilance can forestall
the suffering so caused.