Sleigh Ride (Homespun) by Katie Crabapple

dragged his feet as he went to the front.  He wasn’t a bad child, just boisterous, and he hated having to learn anything.  He thought he should be able to stay home with his father all day and do whatever he wanted.  She knew she needed to have a talk with his father when he walked over to get him that afternoon.  The schoolhouse was on the border of the Walkers’ land, and Mr. Walker made sure to walk over to get Charlie every afternoon.
    The Walkers had only lived in their community for a couple of months, and Patience hadn’t had time to get to know them well.  Sure, she saw them at church every Sunday, but she did her best to just be another member of the congregation and not the schoolteacher at church.  It would have been much easier to use the socialization time before and after church to talk to the parents of her students, but she felt the need to keep her job and her worship separate.
    She dismissed school right on time, and saw Charlie dash toward the door.  “Charlie!  You’re not finished.  You may stay after school until you’ve finished copying all of your words.”  Although she worded it as a request, he knew it was a command.
    Charlie glared at her, but did as he was told.  Patience waited at the door hoping to see Mr. Walker so she could talk to him about the situation with his son.  She realized then she’d never had a conversation with the man, but she really needed to.
    Charlie’s dark haired father stood off to the side while all the children ran toward their homes and watched for his son.  “Mr. Walker?  May I have a word with you, please?”  She did her best to use her calm schoolteacher voice, but it was obvious by the way his face changed he knew there was a problem with Charlie.
    Hugh Walker folded his arms across his chest and looked down his nose at the young schoolteacher.  He really didn’t want to hear whatever it was she had to say.  He’d had plenty of complaints about the way his son behaved in other situations, and had been waiting to hear what the prissy young schoolmarm would say about his boy.  “Yeah?”
    Patience looked over her shoulder to make sure Charlie was still working on writing his spelling words on the blackboard, and then stepped outside with Mr. Walker.  “I’m having some trouble with Charlie.  He seems to think he shouldn’t have to learn to spell or really to learn anything, because he’s going to be a farmer like you.”  Her voice was earnest as she sought help from the boy’s father.  They needed to work together as a team to get Charlie to see how he should be behaving in class.
    “You got something against farmers?”  Mr. Walker’s deep voice was little more than a rumble from his chest.  He was clearly annoyed with her, and she had no idea what she’d done to upset him.
    “Of course not!  My father and brothers are farmers.  I’ve grown up in a farming community and have a great respect for farmers.  But Charlie needs to understand farmers need to have an education just like everyone else.”
    “How does book learnin’ help a farmer?  I don’t sit and read to my cows.”
    Patience sighed.  Now it was obvious where Charlie got his bad attitude about school from.  “But you need to know math to know how many bushels of wheat you’re selling.  You need to be able to figure a budget to know how much you can spend on corn seed.  You need to know how much food your animals will eat through a long winter.  When you sell your crop, you need to be able to read to know what you’re signing when you sign a contract.”
    He simply shrugged.  “What exactly is the problem?”  His brown eyes stared into her blue as if he was daring her to complain about his son.
    “Charlie is refusing to learn to spell.  He says the cows don’t care whether or not he can spell, so it doesn’t matter if he knows how.  He says the only thing that really matters is whether or not he’s strong enough to do the work, so he