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The everyday matters of life went pleasantly in the country, now that I was no longer a beginner. School was two miles away and we got there on our bicycles or roller skates. In the primary grades we were promptly taught to read and write, add and subtract, and multiply through the 4's. We also learned by heart a variety of little German songs & dances. Marion already knew Die Lorelei and Der Erlkonig which she recited to me most inspiringly after the lights were out at night, and I was to repeat them after her. Unfortunately they both had tragic endings and strange meanings. We also had Nature Study, in the course of which we heard about the Animal Kingdom and The Vegetable Kingdom and watched larvae turn into butterflies. Each of us was given a seed to plant in a box which had a glass side, and every morning we observed the developing leaves and roots. Mine happened to be a squash seed for which a brilliant future had