It was my first day at school. It was also Miss Caroline's first day to be a teacher.
Miss Caroline began the day by reading us a story about cats. Then she started to teach us the alphabet (字母表).
When Miss Caroline discovered that I was literate (有读写能力的),she said, "Tell your father not to teach you any more. It's best to begin reading and writing with a fresh mind."
After supper that night, Atticus sat down with the paper and called, "Scout, ready to read?"
I told Atticus I didn't feel very well and didn't think I'd go to school any more if it was all right with him.
"You never went to school and you do all right, so I'll just stay home too. You can teach me like Grandaddy taught you."
"No, I can't," said Atticus. "I have to make a living. Besides, they'd put me in prison if I kept you at home. Now what's the matter?"
I told him what happened at school. "Miss Caroline said you taught me all wrong, so we can't ever read any more. Please don't send me back, please sir."
"First of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of people. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—"
"Sir?"
"—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Atticus continued, "You learned many things today. Miss Caroline learned several things herself. We could not expect her to learn all our ways in one day, and we should understand her when she knew no better."
"But if I keep on going to school, we can't ever read any more…"
"That's really worrying you, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir."
When Atticus looked at me, I saw the look on his face that always made me expect something. "Do you know what a compromise (妥协) is?" he asked.
"Breaking the law?"
"No, an agreement. It works this way," he said. "If you promise me to go to school, we'll go on reading every night as usual. Is it OK?"
"Yes sir!"
