iting in aniline ink for the hectographs, such
problems as these:

"If Mr. Ezra Bronson's seed wheat carries in each 250 grains, ten cockle
grains, fifteen rye grains, twenty fox-tail seeds, three iron-weed seeds,
two wild oats grains, twenty-seven wild buckwheat seeds, one wild
morning-glory seed, and eighteen lamb's quarter seeds, what percentage of
the seeds sown is wheat, and what foul seed?"

"If in each 250 grains of wheat in Mr. Bronson's bins, 30 are cracked,
dead or otherwise not capable of sprouting, what per cent, of the seed
sown will grow?"

"If the foul seed and dead wheat amount to one-eighth by weight of the
mass, what did Mr. Bronson pay per bushel for the good wheat, if it cost
him $1.10 in the bin, and what per cent, did he lose by the adulterations
and the poor wheat?"

Jim ran over these rapidly. "Your mathematics is good, Newton," said the
schoolmaster, "but if you expect to pass in penmanship, you'll have to
take more pains."

"How about the grammar?" asked Newton. "The writing is pretty bad, I'll
own up."

"The grammar is good this morning. You're gradually mastering the art of
stating a problem in arithmetic in English--and that's improvement."

The hands of Jim Irwin's dollar watch gradually approached the position
indicating nine o'clock--at which time the schoolmaster rapped on his desk
and the school came to order. Then, for a while, it became like other
schools. A glance over the room enabled him to enter the names of the
absentees, and those tardy. There was a song by the school, the recitation
in concert of _Little Brown Hands_, some general remarks and directions by
the teacher, and the primary pupils came forward for their reading
exercises. A few classes began poring over their text-books, but most of
the pupils had their work passed out to them in the form of hectograph
copies of exercises prepared in the school itself.

As the little ones finished their recitations, they passed to the dishes
of wheat, and began aiding Raymond's squad in the counting and classifying
of the various seeds. They counted to five, and they counted the fives.
They laughed in a subdued way, and whispered constantly, but nobody seemed
disturbed.

"Do they help much, Calista?" asked the teacher, as the oldest Simms girl
came to his desk for more wheat.

"No, seh, not much," replied Calista, beaming, "but they don't hold us
back any--and maybe they do he'p a little."

"That's good," said Jim, "and