noon
When the first morning recess came , `` little recess , '' as it was called -- the master kept Chad in and asked him his name ; if he had ever been to school , and whether he knew his A B C 's ; and he showed no surprise when Chad , without shame , told him no . So the master got Melissa 's spelling-book and pointed out the first seven letters of the alphabet , and made Chad repeat them three times -- watching the boy 's earnest , wrinkling brow closely and with growing interest . When school `` took up '' again , Chad was told to say them aloud in concert with the others -- which he did , until he could repeat them without looking at his book , and the master saw him thus saying them while his eyes roved around the room , and he nodded to himself with satisfaction -- for he was accustomed to visible communion with himself , in school and out . At noon -- `` big recess '' Melissa gave Chad some corn-bread and bacon , and the boys gathered around him , while the girls looked at him curiously , merely because he was a stranger , and some of them -- especially the Dillon girl -- whispered , and Chad blushed and was uncomfortable , for once the Dillon girl laughed unkindly . The boys had no games , but they jumped and threw `` rocks '' with great accuracy at a little birch-tree , and Daws and Tad always spat on their stones and pointed with the forefinger of the left hand first at what they were going to throw at , while Chad sat to one side and took no part , though he longed to show them what he could do . By and by they fell to wrestling , and finally Tad bantered him for a trial . Chad hesitated , and his late enemy misunderstood .