"Friday was my free day," I said.
"What do you mean by free day?"
"Every bairn did what it liked."
"Good Lord!" exclaimed Macdonald.
"That's nothing," I laughed, "why, I gave them a free week once."
"What was your idea. Laziness?"
"Laziness! My dear boy, I never put in such a hard week in my life. A boy would come out and ask for a certain kind of sum, then a girl would bring out a writing book and ask for a setting; by the time I had attended to these, a dozen were waiting."
"Did they all work?"
"They were all active. Dickie Gibson spent the week in sketching; Geordie Steel read five penny dreadfuls; Janet Brown played at anagrams; Annie Miller read The Weekly Welcome; Ellen Smith worked arithmetic all week and Jock Miller wrote a novel. Jock spent half his dinner-hour writing."
"That's what a school should be," I added.