usiness, the follyin' list av
t'ree hunderd words. By order of th' prisidint.' Sure!" he said. "'Under
penalty av dismissal from th' service av th' company,' as ye might be
sayin'!"

He turned to the list of three hundred words and began to read it. As he
passed down the list the frown on his brow deepened. At "anapest" it was
a noticeable frown, at "apothem" it became very pronounced, and at
"dieresis" his shaggy red brows nearly covered his eyes, he was frowning
so hard.

"I wonder what th' Interurban Ixpriss Company w'u'd loike me t' be
writin' thim on th' subject av 'ecumenical'?" he said. "Mebby there be
some of these here 'edile' and 'egis' things comin' by ixpriss, and 't
will be a foine thing t' know how t' spell thim whin th' con-_sign_-y
puts in a claim fer damages, but if th' company is goin' t' carry many
'eponyms' and 'esophaguses' Mike Flannery will be lookin' for another
job.--And w'u'd you look at this wan! 'Paleography!' Thim be nice words
t' order th' agints av th' ixpriss company t' be usin'!"

He pulled at a lock of his hair thoughtfully.

"I wonder, now," he said, "do they want Mike Flannery t' learn all thim
words by hearrt, and use thim all. Should I be usin' thim all in one
letter, or distribute thim throughout th' correspondince, or what? 'T is
a grand lot of worrds if I only knew what anny of thim meant, but 't
will be hard t' find a subject t' write on t' run in this word of
'homonym.' There has not been one of thim about th' office since Mike
Flannery has been here."

But his duty was plain, and he took his varnish pot and pasted the list
on the wall beside his desk where he could refer to it instantly, and
then he slid on to his high stool to write the acknowledgment of the
receipt of the list.

"Interurban Express Co., Franklin. Gentelmen," he wrote, "I receved the
genral order 719 and will oba it but I will have to practise v. and n.
awhile first, some of the words dont come natural to me off hand like
polyp and estivate. what is the rate on these if any comes exprest.
whats a etiology, pleas advice me am I to use all these words or only
sum. Mike Flannery."

He sealed this with the feeling that he had done well indeed for a first
time. He had worked in "practise v. and n." and "exprest," and, if the
head office should complain that he had not used enough of the words in
the list, he could point to "polyp" and "estivate" and "etiology." It
was slow work, for he had to look up each