noon
And it was in that blissful moment that Tillie had discovered , for the first time in her young existence , that life could be worth while . Not within her memory had any one ever caressed her before , or spoken to her tenderly , and in that fascinating tone of anxious concern . Afterward , Tillie often tried to faint again in school ; but , such is Nature 's perversity , she never could succeed . School had just been called after the noon recess , and Miss Margaret was standing before her desk with a watchful eye on the troops of children crowding in from the playground to their seats , when the little girl stepped to her side on the platform . This country school-house was a dingy little building in the heart of Lancaster County , the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch . Miss Margaret had been the teacher only a few months , and having come from Kentucky and not being `` a Millersville Normal , '' she differed quite radically from any teacher they had ever had in New Canaan . Indeed , she was so wholly different from any one Tillie had ever seen in her life , that to the child 's adoring heart she was nothing less than a miracle .