noon
Todd Walters worried nearly a week over his choice . It was the last week of school , and he sat with a little pocket Bible hidden between the covers of his geography many an hour when he should have been learning the rivers of Asia , or doing long sums in the division of fractions . Six days of the seven went by before he found a motto to his liking . He was lying stretched out on the old lounge in the tiny sitting-room that noon , waiting for dinner . Todd and his mother lived alone in this little cottage , and she was busy all summer making preserves and pickles and jellies to sell . It was their only means of support . As the delicious odour of strawberry preserves floated in from the kitchen , Todd thought of his sweet-faced little mother bending over the steaming kettle , and wished he could tell her the secret of the prize wheel .