me and all of his attention; and often some
of the other boys were marked for laughing when he succeeded. And he had
succeeded so well that the teacher had not the slightest idea what they
were laughing at.

"All this was very satisfactory to him; but it was not so well for him
at the end of the year, because it turned out he was behind-hand in all
his studies, and he had to be put down into a lower room. But coming
into another room with a fresh teacher, he had to learn his favorite
accomplishment all over again. It was difficult, for she was a very
rigid teacher, and seemed to have eyes in every hair of her head; and
he sat at the other side of the room, so that he had to change hands
somehow in throwing the balls and getting them into his desk quick
without being seen. But there were a number of younger boys in the
room who enjoyed it all very much, so that he was a real hero, and
felt himself quite a favorite. He did manage to keep up better in his
arithmetic, too, in spite of his having so little time for his books.
Perhaps from having to watch the teacher so much, he did learn the
things that he heard her repeat over and over again; and then he picked
up some knowledge from the other boys. Still, all through his school
term, he was sent about more or less from one room to another. The
teachers could not quite understand why such a bright-looking boy, who
seemed to be always busy with his lessons, was not farther on in his
studies.

"So it happened, when they all left school, Oscar was himself surprised
to find that the boys of his age were ahead of him in various ways. A
large class went on to the high school; but Oscar, as it proved, was not
at all fitted.

"And his father took him round from one place to another to try to get
some occupation for him. He looked so bright that he was taken for an
office-boy here and there; but he never stayed. The fact was, the only
thing he could do well was to fling balls up in the air and catch them
in turn, without letting them drop to the ground; and this he could
only do best on the sly, behind somebody's back. Now this, though
entertaining to those who saw it for a little while, did not help on his
employers, who wondered why they did not get more work out of Oscar.

"A certain Mr. Spenser, a friend of Oscar's father, asked him to bring
his boy round to his office, and he would employ him. 'He will have to
do a little drudgery at first, but I think we can promote him so