"Sorensen, Virginia - Plain Girl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sorensen Virginia)

So it was that. They had seldom spoken of it, but Esther had heard what was said when Ruth first came to help in the house and give her lessons. Father
had known it might happen. Now here it had come. But his voice sounded very clear and steady and she saw how straight and proud he stood under his broad
stiff- brimmed hat.

"We have taught Esther here at home," he said. "She is able to read and write very well now. In English. And in German too."

"That may be so," the man said, and glanced at his companion. "But it happens, Mr. Lapp, that we have a compulsory school law in Pennsylvania. I'm sure

8

you remember-we have talked about this matter before."

"Quite some time ago now," said the other man. "Before, I believe, the trouble was about your son." He looked at the paper in his companion's hand. "Our
records show that you were arrested and fined three times before he finally went to school. Daniel Lapp. Isn't that your son?"

Father did not answer, and Esther began to tremble from her head to her toes. The name Daniel was never mentioned in that house or in that yard or any place
where Father might happen to hear it. She herself had heard him say, right after Dan had gone away, "We will not speak of Daniel here again."

The strange man did not know that. He even repeated the name, looking straight into Father's face. "You finally sent Daniel to school, and he finished,"
the man said. "We understood you meant to send your daughter without trouble when the time came."

"Esther is learning here at home," Father said slowly in a heavy stubborn voice. "We Amish people believe in the law; you should know it. But we do not
believe in a bad law that forces men to send their children to learn bad ways. We are able to teach our children everything they will need to know here
on the farm."

A silence fell. Only the chickens moved around

9

Esther's skirt, looking stiff-legged and pop-eyed and silly.

"Believe me, Mr. Lapp, we're sorry about this," the first man said. "But until you people provide a good school of your own-one the Superintendent can approve,
mind you-every Amish child must go to the school provided. The one in this neighborhood is a very good school; my own boy goes there. This fall we have
a splendid teacher-"

"It is not the teachers that are bad," Father said.

Again the silence. They seemed to know what Father had meant to tell them, and looked awkwardly at each other. It was not that the teachers were bad, or
the school, or the children. It was only that there were so many different children at the school, with different ways and different clothes. So many different
things put strange ideas into an Amish head sometimes. It had happened to Dan; Father was afraid it would also happen to Esther.

The first man broke the silence in a determined voice, looking at the paper and speaking his words as if he read them out. "We are to inform you, Mr. Lapp,
that your daughter Esther must be in school from the age of eight until she is seventeen. Her case has been overlooked too long already." He glanced at
Father's fierce beard, which stood out upon the air when his

10

head was held so high. "The only excuse provided by law, Mr. Lapp, is dire financial need-" His glance swept over the neat farm and the great barn and the
strong house, and Esther knew he was thinking there was no need here or ever would be.