“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 carrying 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 in school, and the consequences that would hereafter result from them.