“Now I have an idea,” said the teacher. “You know I like a good time as well as any body, but I think if we have clubs, it is a good idea to make them as useful as possible. If you meet again, remember, your name is ‘Up-the-Ladder Club,’ always to be climbing up, always to be advancing. Now you can advance in this way; you can combine the literary element.”
“Come-and-bine what?” asked Juggie.
“The literary element.”
“De literal element?”
“Recitations and so on, I mean.”
“We did have an entertainment,” said Charlie, who was not disposed to forget or disparage the glory of “departed days.”
“But this is something different, and let me explain. Let us suppose that we take the subject, ‘Days of our Forefathers,’ the times before or at the Revolutionary War. One of you could be dressed as a farmer in those days, and tell what farmers did; another as printer could tell what printers did, and so on. That would give you an idea of those days, and make something useful of your club.”
The plan was popular with the boys of the club. When the subject was proposed to Aunt Stanshy, she made the comment:
“Some sense in the idea. The boys will learn something.”
“And then,” said Miss Barry, “when Christmas comes, you can give a Christmas entertainment, and ask an admission fee, and, won’t you give the money to the missions of our Church? That will be putting another round in the ladder, and the ‘Up-the-Ladder Club’ will go higher still. I want you to help other people all you can. I’ll tell you what to do, and be with you.”