Dan began to blubber.
Joe couldn't help laughing. "Let me help you look," he said.
Down went a box of odd buttons, scattering far and wide.
"You Dan!" shouted his father, with some buttons in his mouth, that rendered his voice rather thick. "Just wait till I get at you. I have only six buttons to sew on."
"They're not here, Mr. Briggs," exclaimed Joe.
"Well, I declare! If that ain't the strangest thing! Dan, you've taken them trousers to the wrong place!"
A new and overwhelming light burst in upon Dan's benighted brain.
"That's it," said Joe. "Now, where have you taken them?"
"I swow!" ejaculated the youth, rubbing his eyes.
"None o' your swearin' in this place!" interrupted his father sternly. "I'm a strictly moral man, and don't allow such talk in my family."