Last Friday morning I found a pile of letters on my desk and that evening I realized afresh that teaching has its pleasures as well as its pains . Those compositions would atone for much . Here is Ned Clay 's , address , spelling , and grammar as originally penned . '' ` Miss teacher ShiRley Green gabels . p.e. Island can birds '' ` Dear teacher I think I will write you a composition about birds . birds is very useful animals . my cat catches birds . His name is William but pa calls him tom . he is oll striped and he got one of his ears froz of last winter . only for that he would be a good-looking cat . My unkle has adopted a cat . it come to his house one day and woudent go away and unkle says it has forgot more than most people ever knowed . he lets it sleep on his rocking chare and my aunt says he thinks more of it than he does of his children . that is not right . we ought to be kind to cats and give them new milk but we ought not be better to them than to our children . this is oll I can think of so no more at present from edward blake ClaY . ' '' `` St. Clair Donnell 's is , as usual , short and to the point . St. Clair never wastes words . I do not think he chose his subject or added the postscript out of malice aforethought . It is just that he has not a great deal of tact or imagination . '' ''
` Dear Miss Shirley '' ` You told us XXXXX describe something strange we have seen .
about as at for from of on than that to