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Iowa Kids 1910, v2
High Waters
by Phil Stong
Illustrations by Kurt Wiese
Chapter 1
The Hero
It was two o'clock on a raw March day and even in the sheltered corner between the south wall of the grade school in Pittsville, Iowa, and the brick furnace room, an occasional gust twisted in on the group of boys who were bent over an empty box on which lay several sheets of paper. One thin boy with spectacles was chewing on the end of a pencil.
"It says, 'Dear Homer,' he told the group. "What should I say next?"
"Say first, 'The Sixth Grade of our school appreciates what you have done for it,' " said Guy, who had heard his father dictate letters.
Spectacles wrote busily. "How do you spell 'appreciates'?" he asked.
"With a 'c'," said Guy.
"Yes, but one 'p' or two?"
There was a moment's silence.
"Just say, 'thanks you for what you have done for it,' " Guy said.
The boy with the spectacles worked on this. "Then what?"
A red-haired boy said, "Say, 'we will never forget what you have done for us.' "
"That's good," someone said.
The cold of the wind and the cobbled schoolyard was beginning to creep through the thick soles of their shoes, their jackets, the tight kneelength trousers of 1904 boys' styles, the long stockings which came above their knees and their heavy woolen underwear, which folded and made wrinkles above their ankles.
"Bu -- bu -- bu -- bu -- bu," someone shivered. "Let's hurry up."
"That's about all, anyhow," said Guy. "Say, 'We are sending you a sack of candy and a new Henty book in appreciation' -- no, no -- 'to show you how much we thank you.' "
"That doesn't seem like much," the redheaded boy objected.
"We could give him some marbles in the spring, when the ground gets dry," a boy suggested.
"That's a good idea," said Guy. He took off his cap with its ear muffs at the side and brushed back his long, light hair. "Tell him, 'In the spring when it's dry we'll all give you some marbles.' "
The boy with the spectacles wrote this and then said, "But he won't know what this is all about!"
They considered this and then all nodded. "You write, 'school has been let out for two weeks and we will all have a vacation' -- do you know how to spell 'vacation'?"
"Everybody knows how to spell 'vacation'," Specs said, writing. "Now is there anything else I say?"
The boys all looked at one another and shook their heads.
"Dad always finishes, 'Thanking you for your kindness in this and many other instances, Yours very truly,' " Guy said.
The boys all thought that this was a good idea and Specs wrote it out, except that he spelled 'instances', 'instantses'.
"That doesn't seem to say it quite all," said the redhead. "Tell him he couldn't have picked a better time to get the measles and we appreciate -- we thank him for it a lot."
