Teaching Patience (Homespun) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wouldn’t be the best breakfast, but it would be sustenance.  They’d have good meals when they got home again.  She would keep them alive until they could go home.
    She looked out the window and saw the snow swirling around.  She shivered as she added another few logs to the fire.  The pile was still high enough she wouldn’t need to send any of the boys out for firewood yet.
    Susan, Amos’s youngest sister, tugged on Patience’s skirt.  “Miss Stevens?  I have to go, and my buddy is still sleeping.” 
    Patience looked over and saw Susan’s older sister, Jane, curled on her side sound asleep.  Grace had just sat up and looked around the room.  Patience caught her eye and nodded at Susan.  Grace nodded, understanding what her sister needed immediately.  She stood and walked over to where Susan and Grace were in front of the stove.  “Let’s go to the outhouse, Susan.”
    Patience smiled gratefully.  She knew she was asking a lot of her younger sister, but Grace kept saying she wanted to teach school as well.  Taking on responsibility for some of the younger ones in a crisis would help her prepare for it.  Grace took Susan by the hand and led her to the cloak room to get their coats and scarves on before they made the short walk.
    She heard Mr. Walker stretch behind her, and turned to see him sitting up next to the stove.  “Is it still snowing?”
    She turned and nodded.  “It’s still pretty fierce out there.  I hope today is the end of it.”   She leaned over to feed a few more logs to the fire, wanting the children to wake up in a nice warm room.
    “Will we have enough food if it isn’t?”   The worry in his voice made her smile.  She had quite a stockpile ready, and it was time they used it.
    She thought about what she had stored and nodded.  “The soup I made last night will work for breakfast.  I started a pot of beans soaking last night, and we’ll have those for lunch and dinner.  I think we’ll have enough for about five days if we’re careful.”
    “Then we’ll be careful.”  He stood and checked out the wood pile, just as she had.  “I think I speak for all the parents when I tell you how grateful I am you prepared like you did for a storm.  I was really scared when I saw the clouds rolling in.”  He smiled at her, wondering if she realized how pretty she was with her hair all mussed and coming down from her careful braid. 
    “I couldn’t not prepare.  I know that sounds silly, but ever since I decided to teach, I started making a list of what I thought needed to be in a classroom to be ready for a storm.”  She pointed to the small closet in the corner of the room.  “I even had my papa come here and build that pantry for me so I could be sure to always have enough food on hand.”
    He looked her up and down.  He was ready to admit he’d been wrong about her.  He’d assumed she’d be some hoity toity little thing, just because she was young, pretty, and a school teacher.  The way she’d talked to him about Charlie when they’d spoken last week had just confirmed that.  Now, as he watched her not only handle the emergency situation she found herself in, but turn it into an adventure for all the children, he knew he’d been very wrong.
    “Well, I still appreciate it.  I’ll thank God for you every day for the rest of my life.  If you hadn’t been ready, I don’t know what would have happened to Charlie and me.”
    “We’d have melted snow and prayed a lot.”  She continued to stir the soup.  “Which reminds me, I’d like for you to lead our prayer time this morning.  You’re the only parent who is accounted for, and I’m sure many of the children are worried about their own parents.  Would you mind doing that for us?” 
    “Of course not.  When will we do that?”   He remembered his school days always started with prayer, but they’d never eaten breakfast at the school.  Would they pray before breakfast as a group?  Or