debts were punctually paid. Besides, Mrs. Horáček had patrons among the officials’ wives, and they praised her fine butter. They took a good deal of it, for they did not pay till the first of the month.
Their boy, František, was already nearly three years old and still wore girl’s dresses. The neighbor women said he was an ugly child. The neighbors’ children were older and seldom did František become emboldened enough to play with them. Once the children were calling names after a passing Jew. František was among them, but he was not crying out. The Jew started at a run after the children and caught František, who did not even attempt to run away. With curses the Jew led him to his parents. The neighbor women were shocked that the homely little František was already a rascal.
His mother was frightened and took counsel with her husband.
“I shall not beat him, but here at home he would grow wild among the children, for we can’t look after him. Let us put him in a nursery!”
František was put into trousers and went with lamentation to the nursery school. He sat there for two years. The first year he received as a reward for his quietness at the annual examination a breakfast roll. The second year he would have gotten a little picture if things hadn’t been spoiled for him. The day before the examination he was going home at noon. He had to go past the house of a rich landholder. In
