Part 6 (1/2)
”Huh!” grumbled Sammy, ”teachers don't know much, anyway. Look!
There's what Miss Grimsby told us in physics the other day--all about what you're made of, and how you're made, and the names you can call yourself--if you want to.
”You know: Your legs and arms are _limbs_--and all that. She told us the middle part of our bodies is the _trunk_, and she asked us all if we understood that. Some said 'yes,' and some didn't say nothing,”
went on the excited boy.
”'Don't you know the middle of the body is the trunk?' she asked Patsy Roach. And what do you suppose he told Miss Grimsby?”
”I can't imagine,” said Agnes, for this was in the evening and the young people were gathered about the sitting-room table with their lesson books.
”He told her: 'You ought to go to the circus, Miss Grimsby, and see the elephant,'” giggled Sammy. ”And I guess Patsy was right. Huh!
_Trunk!_” he added with scorn.
”a.s.sociation of ideas,” chuckled Neale O'Neil, who was likewise present as usual during home study hour. ”I heard that one of the kids in Dot's grade gave Miss Andrews an extremely bright answer the other day.”
”What was that, Neale?” asked Agnes, who would rather talk than study at any time.
”History. Miss Andrews asked one little girl who discovered America, and the answer was, 'Ohio'!”
”Oh! Oh!” murmured Agnes, while even Ruth smiled.
”Yes,” chuckled Neale. ”Miss Andrews said, 'No; Columbus discovered America,' and the kid said: 'Yes'm. That was his first name.'”
”She got her geography and history mixed,” said Ruth, smiling.
”That was Sadie Goronofsky's half-sister, Becky,” explained Dot. ”She isn't very bright.”
”You bet she isn't bright!” snorted Sammy Pinkney. ”Her pop's got a little tailor shop with another man down on Meadow Street, and they are always fighting.”
”Who are always fighting?” asked Neale quizzically. ”Becky and her father or Becky and her father's partner?”
”Smartie! Becky's pop and the other man,” answered Sammy. ”And their landlord was putting in a new store-front, and Becky's father put out a sign telling folks they were still working--_you_ know. Becky said it read: 'Business going on during altercations,' instead of 'alterations.' And 'altercations' means fights,” concluded the wise Sammy.
”Just see,” remarked Ruth quietly, ”how satisfied you children should be that you know so much more than your little mates. You so frequently bring home tales about them.”
”Aw, now, Ruth,” mumbled Sammy, who was bright enough to note her characteristic criticism.
”I would try,” the oldest Kenway said admonis.h.i.+ngly, ”to bring home only the pleasant stories about my little school friends.”
”Oh! _I_ know a nice story about Allie Newman's little brother,”
declared Dot eagerly.
”That little terror!” murmured Agnes.
”He is one tough little kid,” admitted Neale O'Neil, in an undertone.
”What about the little Newman boy?” asked Ruth indulgently. ”And then we must all study.”
”Why,” said Dot, big-eyed and very much in earnest, ”you know Robbie Newman doesn't go to school yet; and he's an awful trial to his mother.”