Harmony School, 2000, Page 300

Description:	ELIZABETH FREYMANPHOTO I.D.(C.LE. USE ONLY)RIVENDELL, DUBLIN R)SHANKILL.. . co DUBLINNO A 31892Mrs. Kinseys House of ChildrenWe are in Mrs. Kinseys houseand it is full of farm childrendropped off each day. Martha and Noah,Caleb and Abigail too youn£to drive cows or tractors, or cut hay.Sometimes there are ei£ht; today, eighteen.The shy ones are in the corner looking tremulous,the bold have claimed the best of the toys,and Mrs. Kinsey is tending to all of them,the bruised and fallen, the loutish and ever willful.Oh, theyre $ood children, she says,as she coaxes Eunice off her sisters chest,or gently unlocks the arm around Erwins head.Some need more than others,” she says,and dont they have the harder time of it?300Outside, Cyril is dan£lin£ from a branchby one thin le£, Willy has pitched a stone,and Helen is snaked in the raspberry bushes,and Mrs. Kinsey is trotting in and outamon£ the pandemonium of children,retrieving strays and steering dangeraway from heart and bone.If, once, we could hear her shoutor ever see her raise an u£ly hand,we could say, yes, we know her limits now,and arent they much like ours?Justice be served, we would say,and the smallest crime find retribution.But this is Mrs. Kinseys housewhere we are sitting and talking softlyand bein£ our kindest selves all afternoon.There are children all about us,Adam and Sarah, Betty and Everett,and Mrs. Kinsey is passing out crackersand juice and pats on the headio saints and villains alike.’Maybe youd like some too, she says,turning our way, coming toward us,and we are saying, Thank you, thank you,alon£ with Lara and Eben, Joshua and Rachel,quietly, and all of us, for a moment, deserving,in spite of what we may be, or mi£ht become.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-harmony/id/2578
Collection:	Harmony School

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