h his back towards the
boys, and with his face so near the blackboard, that he could see
nothing else without turning his head--an operation that would be sure
to attract the attention of the master. At first he thought it would
be good fun to stand there, and for awhile the novelty of the thing did
amuse him a little. When he began to grow weary, he contrived to
interest himself by tracing out the faint chalk-marks of long-forgotten
problems, that had not been entirely obliterated from the blackboard.
This afforded employment for his mind for a time; but by-and-bye he
began to grow tired and uneasy. His eyes longed to see something else,
and his legs were weary of standing so long in one position. He
wondered, too, whether the boys were looking at him, and whether they
smiled at his strange employment. At last, after doing penance about
an hour, his exhaustion got the better of his stubbornness, and on
informing the master that he thought ho could study now, he was
permitted to take his seat.

After returning to his desk, Oscar had but little time to finish
learning his geography lesson, before the class was called out to
recite. As was too often the case, he was but half prepared. The
subject of the lesson was New York State. Several of the questions put
to Oscar were answered wrong, either wholly or in part. When asked
what great lakes bordered on New York, he replied:

"Lake Erie and Lake Superior."

When the question was given to another, and correctly answered, Oscar
exclaimed:

"That's what I meant--Erie and Ontario; but I was n't thinking what I
said."

This was somewhat of a habit with Oscar. When he "missed" a question,
he was very apt to say, after the next boy had answered it, "I knew,
only I could n't think," or, "I was just going to say so."

Another question put to him was, whether the water of the great New
York lakes was fresh or salt. Oscar replied that it was salt. It is
but justice to add, how ever, that nothing was said in the lesson of
the day, on this point, although the question had occurred in a
previous lesson. Noticing that several of the boys laughed at Oscar's
blunder, the teacher remarked:

"That was a very foolish answer, Oscar, but you are not the first nor
the wisest person that has made the same mistake. When the British
went to war with us, in 1812, it is said that all their war vessels
intended to navigate the lakes, were furnished with tanks and casks for
carr