(1) Mrs. Knight’s school, to which Katy Carr went, was a low, one-storey building, and had a yard…

(1) Mrs. Knight’s school, to which Katy Carr went, was a low, one-storey building, and had a yard behind it, in which the girls played at recess. Next door to it was Miss Miller’s school, equally large and popular, and with a yard behind it also. Only a high board fence separated the two playgrounds; and a feud raged constantly between the two schools as to the several merits of the respective teachers and their methods of teaching. (2) Mrs. Knight’s had one great advantage over the other; it possessed a wood-shed with a climbable roof, which commanded Miss Miller’s premises, and upon this roof the girls used to sit in rows, turning up their noses at the foe in the next yard. (3) One morning, Katy was late for school. She could not find her things. Her algebra, as she expressed it, had “gone and lost itself” and the string was off her sun-hat. She ran about searching for these articles and banging doors, till Aunt Izzie was out of patience. (4) “As for your algebra,” she said, “if it is that very dirty book with only one cover, you will find it under the kitchen table; and here is the hat-string. Now, stand still and don’t fidget! You shan’t stir till I have sewed it on properly.” (5) It was not easy to do so, but Katy bore it as well as she could, only shifting perpetually from one foot to the other. The minute she was released, she flew into the kitchen, seized the algebra, and rushed like a whirlwind to the school. (6) She ran as fast as she could, but time ran faster, and before she was half-way there, the town clock struck nine, and all hope was lost. She marched into school in a very cross mood. (7) A day begun in this manner is pretty sure to end badly, as most of us know. All the morning through, things seemed to go wrong. Firstly, Katy made errors in her grammar lessons. Then her hand shook so much when she wrote her composition, that the writing could hardly be read and Mrs. Knight said that she had to do it all over again. This made Katy crosser than ever; the tears came into her eyes from vexation, and she made a bolt for the yard as soon as the bell rang, climbing up all alone to the wood-house roof, where she sat with her back to the school, trying to get her face in order before the rest should come. (8) Miss Miller’s clock was about four minutes slower than Mrs. Knight’s, so the next playground was empty. It was a warm, breezy day, and as Katy sat there, suddenly a gust of wind blew, and seizing her sun-hat, which was only half tied on, whirled it across the roof. She clutched after it as it flew, but too late. Once, twice, thrice it flapped and Katy saw it lying in a crumpled little heap in the enemy’s yard. (9) This was horrible! Not merely losing the hat, but to lose it so! In another minute, the Miller girls would be out. Was it to be endured? Never! Katy set her teeth, and sliding rapidly down the roof, seized the fence, and with one bold leap, vaulted into Miss Miller’s yard. Adapted from: What Katy Did By Susan Coolidge