[Child of the 7th Age]

For the next half hour, Miz Bella checked the work that was brought to her desk, offering words of encouragement to each of the children. Willy had been first in line. His work had been wildly creative with pictures splashed all over and lines of wobbly letters interspersed in the few bare spots left on the slate. Despite the craziness of his impromptu melange, Miz Bella could see that the lad actually had a good deal of talent when it came to seeing things and representing them with his chalk.

Closely inspecting the slate, she exclaimed, "Willy, I must tell you I like your drawings. In fact, I like them very much. You have a real knack for sketching. Usually, children who have such talent learn their letters very quickly because they can see how shapes and lines fit together. Next time, try putting the sketches on one side and the pictures on the other. That way, you'll have more room, and I can see both the pictures and letters more clearly."

Then Miz Bella checked over the slates from Reggie, Hanson, and Woody. She talked a bit about keeping letters like "B" taller than the rest, but for the most part praised the lads' efforts. "It'll get easier as you use the letters more. They are all very good for first tries!"

"As to how tall that bear was," Miz Bella directed her words at Woody, "you're going to have to figure that out on your own after lunch. You and everyone here. I'll give you some hints and some sticks for counting, and you can all have a guess at how tall the bear was. But for now I think it's time for lunch. I need one or two volunteers to go down and collect the soup and cheese in the kitchen from Cook and bring it back to class. Just come forward and volunteer and be on your way to the kitchen. The rest of you can go play in the garden while we're waiting for lunch to arrive. There's a nice enclosed area out there. Just try not to trample on the flower beds and stay inside the fence. And someone can fill our pitcher up with nice cold water from the well."

Miz Bella watched as several of the young hobbits scampered towards the door with a happy holler of relief. A few milled around the desk presumably waiting to volunteer. Miz Bella caught a glimpse of Camille and quickly interjected, "Oh, Camille, you were going back to the pond to bring your brother to school in the wheelbarrow. I've already spoken with Neviel and he says he'll be happy to help you..... And , by the way, I wanted to thank you and the other lasses for arranging those books. I've had a close look at them, and they are certainly unusual! There are many ways to arrange things and size and color are definitely one. Perhaps, sometime in the future, we'll talk about some other ways."