But for all that Maria felt herself drawn towards this poor little offspring of the degenerate branch of the Ramseys.  There was something about the child’s delicate, intellectual, fairly noble cast of countenance which at once aroused her affection and pity.  It was in December, on a bitterly cold day, when Maria had been teaching in Amity some two months, when this affection and pity ripened into absolute fondness and protection.  The children were out in the bare school-yard during the afternoon recess, when Maria, sitting huddled over the stove for warmth, heard such a clamor that she ran to the window.  Out in the desolate yard, a parallelogram of frozen soil hedged in with a high board fence covered with grotesque, and even obscene, drawings of pupils who had from time to time reigned in district number six, was the little Ramsey girl, surrounded by a crowd of girls who were fairly yelping like little mongrel dogs.  The boys’ yard was on the other side of the fence, but in the fence was a knot-hole wherein was visible a keen boy-eye.  One girl after another was engaged in pulling to the height of her knees Jessy Ramsey’s poor, little, dirty frock, thereby disclosing her thin, naked legs, absolutely uncovered to the freezing blast.  Maria rushed bareheaded out in the yard and thrust herself through the crowd of little girls.

“Girls, what are you doing?” she asked, sternly.

“Please, teacher, Jessy Ramsey, she ‘ain’t got nothin’ at all on under her dress,” piped one after another, in accusing tones; then they yelped again.

Tears of pity and rage sprang to Maria’s eyes.  She caught hold of the thin little shoulder, which was, beyond doubt, covered by nothing except her frock, and turned furiously upon the other girls.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!” said she; “great girls like you making fun of this poor child!”

“She had ought to be ashamed of herself goin’ round so,” retorted the biggest girl in school, Alice Sweet, looking boldly at Maria.  “She ain’t no better than her ma.  My ma says so.”

“My ma says I mustn’t go with her,” said another girl.

“Both of you go straight into the school-house,” said Maria, at a white heat of anger as she impelled poor little Jessy Ramsey out of the yard.

“I don’t care,” said Alice Sweet, with quite audible impudence.

The black eye at the knot-hole in the fence which separated the girls’ yard from the boys’ was replaced by a blue one.  Maria’s attention was attracted towards it by an audible titter from the other side.

“Every one of you boys march straight into the school-house,” she called.  Then she led Jessy into a little room which was dedicated to the teacher’s outside wraps.  The room was little more than a closet, and very cold.  Maria put her arm around Jessy and felt with horror the little, naked body under the poor frock.

“For Heaven’s sake, child, why are you out with so little on such a day as this?” she cried out.