noon
Perhaps it was the sight of some boys coasting down a little hill , on a side street , near where the man lived at this time : perhaps it was a group of children who , on their way home from school , were waging a merry snow fight : or , perhaps , it was the man 's own effort to acquire Knowledge : or , it may be , that his brain was weary , that the way of Knowledge seemed over long , that the links in the golden chain were many and passed all too slowly through his hand -- I do not know -- but , whatever it was that did it , the man , as he sat before his fire that winter evening with a too solid and substantial book , slipped away from his grown up world of facts back into the no less real world of childhood , back into his Yesterdays -- to a school day in his Yesterdays . Once again he made his way in the morning to the little schoolhouse that stood half way up a long hill , in the edge of a bit of timber , nearly two miles from his home . The yard , beaten smooth and hard by many bare and childish feet , was separated from the timber by a rail fence but was left open in front to any stray horses or cattle that , wandering down the road , might be tempted to rest a while in the shade of a great tree that stood near the center of the little clearing . The stumps of the other forest beauties that had once , like this tree , tossed their branches in the sunlight were still holding the places that God had given them and made fine seats for the girls or bases for the boys when they played ball at recess or noon . And often , when the shouting youngsters had been called from their sports by the rapping of the teacher 's ruler at the door and only the busy hum of their childish voices came floating through the open windows , a venturesome squirrel or a saucy chipmunk would creep stealthily along the fence , stopping now and then to sit bolt upright with tail in air to look and listen . Then suddenly , at sight of a laughing face at the window or the appearance of some boy who had gained the coveted permission to get a bucket of water , the little visitor would whisk away again like a flash and , with a warning chatter to his mate , would seek safety among the leaves and branches of the forest only to reappear once more when all was quiet until , at last , made bold by many trials , he would leap from the fence and scamper across the yard to take possession of the tallest stump as though he himself were a schoolboy . Sometimes a crow , after carefully watching the place for a little while from a safe position on the fence across the road , would fly quietly down to look for choice bits dropped from the dinner baskets of the children .