Dr. Spaulding. Mr. Harding had written all that was necessary, I was sure, to obtain an excellent position for mother, possibly an immediate principalship! I couldn't quite understand my mother's persistent skepticism. In fact, she didn't even seem enthusiastic about making the trip. . . . "I have known Mrs. Britton for as much as twenty years and know her to be a woman of sterling character and very notable intellectual capacity . . . I have known the family for a great many years and have known of Mrs. Britton's attainments during all of that time . . . If you have a vacancy in your schools I am confident you will find her a very desirable member of your teaching staff, who is well able to give quite as satisfactory account of herself as the numerous teachers which Cleveland has taken from my home town of Marion . . ."
With characteristic assurance I handed this note to the gentleman into whose presence mother and I were ushered with due ceremony. He read it, I thought, with indifferent interest. When he had finished he shrugged his shoulders slightly, lifted his eyebrows, and looked from mother to me. Mother seemed embarrassed. I was not. I showed plainly that I wished to represent my mother in this matter when the gentleman before us inquired frankly why mother had not applied direct. I was not used to this kind of reception! I stated for my mother that she was not particularly interested in changing positions but that I wanted her to teach in the Cleveland schools. And Mr. Harding, as United States Senator from Ohio, was also interested in having her placed there.
The gentleman and my mother exchanged glances. The gentleman's eyes lighted as though with sudden comprehension. "Um . . . I see! . . ." He turned to me. All at once, as I returned his look, I wilted inside. How well I knew the meaning of that look! It was the inevitable result of my oft-lamented little-girl appearance. I had encountered it too many times. In this instance, as in dozens of others before it, it provoked the tone of voice I deplored—the patient, explanatory, slow tone, the unmistakable talk of an elder to a child . . .
