ying a full supply of freshwater; and I have been told that an
apparatus is still in existence in one of the Canadian navy yards,
which the English government sent over, some years ago, for distilling
fresh water from Lake Erie. But an American school-boy of your age
ought to know better than this, if an English lord of the admiralty
does not. These great lakes are among the remarkable features of our
own country, and every American child should know something about them.
I should suppose," continued the teacher, "that a boy who could afford
to look steadily at nothing for an hour, might take a little pains to
inform himself about so common a matter as this, so as not to appear so
ridiculous, when a simple question is asked him."

Before the lesson was concluded, Oscar made still another mistake.
There was an allusion in the lesson to the great fire of 1885, by which
an immense amount of property in New York city was destroyed. When the
teacher asked him how many buildings were said to have been consumed,
he replied:

"Three hundred and fifty--five hundred and thirty--no, three hundred
and fifty."

"Which number do you mean?" inquired the master.

"I aint sure which it is," replied Oscar, after a moment's hesitation;
"it's one or the other, I don't know which."

"You are about as definite," said the teacher, "as the Irish recruit,
who said his height was five feet ten or ten feet five, he was n't
certain which. But are you _sure_ that the number of buildings burnt
was either three hundred and fifty, or five hundred and thirty?"

"Why--yes--I--believe--it was one or the other," replied Oscar,
hesitatingly.

"You _believe_ it was, do you? Well, I believe you know just nothing
about the lesson. You may go to your seat, and study it until you can
answer every question; and after school I will hear you recite it, and
remember, you will not go home until you _can_ recite it."

The class continued their recitation, and Oscar returned to his seat,
and commenced studying the lesson anew. It was already late in the
afternoon, and as he did not like the idea of stopping after school, he
gave pretty close attention to his book during the rest of the session.
About fifteen minutes after the school was dismissed, he told the
teacher he was prepared to recite, and he succeeded in getting through
the lesson with tolerable accuracy. When he had finished, the teacher
talked with him very plainly about his indolent habits