noon
So long as he had his mother , and his mother smiled at him , life was all sunshine . He gave his name to the teacher , and answered all her questions readily , and was duly enrolled as a pupil in Grade I , along with Bennie Cowan , Edgar Zinc and Bessie Brownlees , and set at work to make figures . He wondered what the teacher wanted with so many figures , but decided he would humor her , and made page after page of them for her . By noon the teacher decided , on further investigation , to put Master James Gray in Grade II , and by four o'clock he was a member in good standing of Grade III . That night there was much talk of James Gray , his good clothes , and his general proficiency , around the firesides of the Purple Springs district . The next day Bennie Cowan , who was left behind in Grade I , although a year older than Jim Gray , made the startling announcement : `` Jim Gray has no father . '' He sang the words , gently intoning , as if he took no responsibility of them any more than if they were the words of a song , for Bennie was a cautious child , and while he did not see that the absence of a father was anything to worry over , still , from the general context of the conversation he had heard , he believed it was something of a handicap .