“So do I,” sighed Harry. “Still, if we don’t pass our examinations we won’t have to leave her.”
“I guess I’ll fail,” grinned Teddy. “Maybe I will, anyhow. I know I won’t pass in English. I never can remember how to parse and a lot of other things. I know more’n Howard Randall does about grammar, though. What do you s’pose he went and wrote the other day?”
“I don’t know. Tell me.” Harry’s eyes danced. Howard Randall’s lapses in English were the joke of Company A.
“You know that ten-question test we had last week,” related Teddy. “Well, Howard couldn’t answer a single question. Grammar won’t stay in his head, somehow. He didn’t want to leave his paper blank so he thought he’d try to answer one. He answered that one, ‘What is meant by the first, second and third persons?’ He, he! This is what he wrote, ‘The first person was Adam, the second person was Eve and the third was the children.’ Some answer, wasn’t it?” Teddy ended with a giggle.
Harry shouted with laughter at the fat boy’s strenuous attempt to prove that he knew something about English.
“When are you going to take your vacation, Harry?” asked Teddy, as they halted at the corner where they separated.
“The first week in July, I think. I’m not going away anywhere. I can’t afford it. You know we won’t be paid for our vacation week, don’t you?”
“Yes. The fellows say you have to be in the store a year before you can draw vacation money. That don’t hurt me any, though. My Mother says I must take two weeks off. I’m going the first of July, too. She wants me to take a month, but I’m not going to do it. I’m afraid I might lose my job. Some of the boys of the West Park School are teasing me to go camping with ’em, but I haven’t made up my mind about it. I thought I’d see first if you’d go along.” Teddy eyed his chum wistfully. “The fellows would like you, and I’d be tickled to have you.”
“You’re a loyal chum, Teddy.” Harry was deeply touched by the red-haired boy’s thought of him. “I’d like to go, but I can’t afford to spend a cent on a vacation trip. If I could I’d make Mother go away for a week. She needs a rest more than I do.”