when it became
so full that the lid stood nearly wide open did he apprehend the
necessity of a "clear-out."

But if there was ever anything more awful to behold than Jack's desk, it
was one of these "clear-outs." The event generally got wind when it was
about to happen, and never failed to create a sensation in the school.
All who had a right took care to be present at the ceremony, and I do
believe if Jack had had the sense to issue reserved seat tickets, he
might have made a nice thing out of it. At any rate, he made a nice
thing out of that desk.

Quite indifferent to our presence and laughter, he began leisurely to
take out its contents and spread them in glorious array upon the floor,
with a view (as he was kind enough to explain to some one who asked him)
"to sort them up." The books and papers went in a pile by themselves;
all loose papers were thrust inside the covers of the books; and all
books without covers were jammed into all the covers without books that
seemed likely to fit. Then all the pens and pencils were put into a
pencil case, and if any happened to be too long, they were broken to the
required shortness. This being satisfactorily done, Jack used next to
turn his attention to the miscellaneous articles of food of which he
found himself possessed. The sandwiches, if not more than a week old,
he either ate or generously offered to some of us; the toffee he put
into his pocket, and the tarts (if the jam were not already dried up) he
put aside for private consumption hereafter. The shells, stones, peel,
etcetera, he heaped up in one place on the floor, and trusted to
Providence to dispose of them. The fish-hooks and baits, the birds'
eggs that were not broken, the silkworms, the photographs, pencils,
knives, and other articles of use or ornament, he sorted carefully, and
then put back into the desk. By this time it would occur to him he had
been long enough over this business, so he shovelled the books and
papers in anyhow, and anything else which happened still to be left out,
and then finding that the lid would shut within an inch, he sighed with
the relief of a man who has well discharged a painful duty.

How was it to be expected Jack could ever find anything he wanted?
Sometimes he would sit grubbing in his desk, or among his books, to find
a certain exercise or paper for half an hour, and finally, when
everything was upside down, he would remember he had it in his waistcoat
pocket, fr