_A Call in the Village_ The friendly village Upper Wood lay on the top of the hill close by the fir wood; it had a beautiful white church with a high, slender tower.

At a distance of three-quarters of an hour's walk, down in the valley, lay Lower Wood, a small community which, however, did not wish to be considered smaller.

They had a new schoolhouse and a church of their own, but the church had no tower, only a little red dome.

Therefore the people of Upper Wood were a little proud, because their church was much prettier and also because they learned much more in the old schoolhouse in Upper Wood than in the new one of Lower Wood; but that was the children's fault, not the teacher's.

In the middle, between the two villages lay a hamlet consisting of a few farms and some small houses of little pretense.