HIS LESSON IN ARITHMETIC.(By Carolyn Schlesinger.)
(By Carolyn Schlesinger.)
Orville Wright, the flying machine man, told a reporter this story:
“A little boy bustled into a grocery one day with a memorandum in his hand.
“‘Hello, Mr. Smith,’ he said, ‘I want 13 pounds of coffee at 32 cents.’
“‘Very good,’ said the grocer, and he noted down the sale, and set his clerk to packing the coffee. ‘Anything else, Charlie?’
“‘Yes, 27 pounds of sugar at 9 cents.’
“‘The loaf, eh? And what else?’
“‘Seven and a half pounds of bacon at 20 cents.’
“‘That’s the Arrow brand. Go on.’
“‘Five pounds of tea at 90 cents, 11½ quarts of molasses at 8 cents a pint, two eight-pound hams at 21¼ cents and five dozen jars of pickled walnuts at 24 cents a jar.’
“The clerk bustled about and the grocer made out the bill.
“‘It’s a big order,’ he said. ‘Did your mother tell you to pay for it, or is it to be charged?’
“‘My mother,’ said the boy, as he pocketed the neat and accurate bill, ‘has nothing to do with this business. It is my arithmetic lesson, and I had to get it done somehow.’”—In the Boston Herald.
“Oh, dey’s times fu’ bein’ pleasant an’ fu’ goin’ smilin’ roun’,’Cause I don’t believe in people allus totin’ roun’ a frown,But it’s easy ’nough to titter w’en de stew is smokin’ hot,But hit’s mighty ha’d to giggle w’en dey’s nuffin’ in de pot.”—Paul Laurence Dunbar.
“Oh, dey’s times fu’ bein’ pleasant an’ fu’ goin’ smilin’ roun’,’Cause I don’t believe in people allus totin’ roun’ a frown,But it’s easy ’nough to titter w’en de stew is smokin’ hot,But hit’s mighty ha’d to giggle w’en dey’s nuffin’ in de pot.”—Paul Laurence Dunbar.
“Oh, dey’s times fu’ bein’ pleasant an’ fu’ goin’ smilin’ roun’,’Cause I don’t believe in people allus totin’ roun’ a frown,But it’s easy ’nough to titter w’en de stew is smokin’ hot,But hit’s mighty ha’d to giggle w’en dey’s nuffin’ in de pot.”
“Oh, dey’s times fu’ bein’ pleasant an’ fu’ goin’ smilin’ roun’,
’Cause I don’t believe in people allus totin’ roun’ a frown,
But it’s easy ’nough to titter w’en de stew is smokin’ hot,
But hit’s mighty ha’d to giggle w’en dey’s nuffin’ in de pot.”
—Paul Laurence Dunbar.
—Paul Laurence Dunbar.