Free A Merry Heart by Wanda E. Brunstetter Page B

right, Teacher Mim. They didn’t mean it, I’m sure.” Mary Ellen managed a weak smile, even through her tears.
    “Who didn’t mean it? Did someone hurt you?”
    “Aw, she’s just a little crybaby.” Kenneth wrinkled his nose like some foul odor had permeated the air. “She can’t even take a bit of teasing.”
    Miriam eyed him with suspicion. “Who was doing this teasing?”
    “It wasn’t me, Teacher. It was the girls. Like I said before, they like to blab.”
    “Which of you girls was involved, and what were you teasing Mary Ellen about?” Miriam’s patience was beginning to wane, and the pain in her head had increased. She feared the dizziness and nausea that usually followed would soon be upon her, as well.
    The cluster of students remained quiet. Not one child stepped forward to announce his or her part in the teasing.
    Miriam frowned and rubbed her forehead. “All right then, the entire class shall stay after school for thirty minutes.”
    “But, that’s not fair! Why should we all be punished for somethin’ just a few of the girls said?” Kenneth wailed.
    “I didn’t do nothin’, and I’ll be sent to the woodshed fora
bletsching
if I come home late,” Karen Lederach whined. “My daed don’t like tardiness.”
    “My mamm has chores waitin’ for me,” Grace Schrock put in.
    Miriam looked at Mary Ellen. “Won’t you tell me now who’s guilty and what they said?”
    Mary Ellen shuffled her feet a few times and motioned for Miriam to come closer. When Miriam bent down, the child whispered in her ear, “I’ll tell you in private what they said, but I can’t say who said it ’cause that would be tattling, and Pappy don’t like a
retschbeddi
. He’s warned me against being a tattler many times.” She smiled, but the expression never quite reached her tear-filled eyes. “He says the Bible tells us to do to others what we want done to us. I wouldn’t want someone to get me in trouble.”
    Miriam took hold of Mary Ellen’s arm and led her inside the school building. Looking at the little girl’s sweet face brought a sense of longing to Miriam’s soul. She felt an unexplainable need to protect this child, and it went way beyond teacher to student. “All right, Mary Ellen. Please tell me what that was all about.”
    Mary Ellen looked up at Miriam, and her chin trembled. “Some of the kinner noticed that I don’t dress like them.”
    “What do you mean? You’re wearing the same Plain clothes as the rest of the girls in class.”
    “Today I must have put my dress on backwards, and I never even knew it. That’s why some of ’em were laughing.” She bit her quivering lip. “But please don’t punish anyone on account of me, Teacher Mim.”
    “I’ll worry about that later,” Miriam said, as she helpedthe child out of her dress.
I should have noticed her dress was on backwards
.
What kind of teacher am I?
    Once the dress was put on correctly, Miriam held Mary Ellen at arm’s length and scrutinized her. “You’ve set a good example for the entire class.” She tucked some stray hairs into the bun at the back of the child’s head. “I only wish the others would do the same.”
    “I always try to do what’s right. It’s what God wants me to do.”
    Miriam nodded, wondering how a child of Mary Ellen’s age could be so full of love and forgiveness, when she, an adult, struggled every day with bitterness and an inability to forgive.
    Pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind, Miriam returned to the school yard to speak with her other students while Mary Ellen waited on the porch. “I hope you’ve all learned something today,” she said, shaking her finger. “No one will be required to stay after school this time, but if anything like this ever happens again, I will punish the entire class. I don’t care if you all have to go to the woodshed for a spanking when you get home. Is that clear?”
    All heads nodded in unison.
    “Now get back to your play. Lunchtime will be