bad—anyway not in Shoreham, where it was composed of a couple of dozen children all known to one—and no one could deny that it was a relief to have howling Sara, Robert, and Uncle Zotsby with his dog, all gone for a whole peaceful morning. Then one could get Things Done. Public school is different. Intellectually, Alice assented, it was the best place for a boy, but in her own secret heart her opinion of our school system was that of the educated Chinaman, who when asked why he didn't send his boy to our schools, replied with simplicity,
"Madam! Get louse—learn bad words." And, there was furthermore, to help in all the undesirable sides of Robert's education, Red Bates, the livery stableman's boy, whom Robert very much fancied. She felt that as soon as he went to school she would not be able to find her way around his mind any more. She would be forever tripping and stumbling over foreign things other people had put there.
