"Generally they were, but still there were reversals in a good many cases," was the reply. "But from everything that I've heard, suggestions from Washington seem to have had the knack of being just about exactly the right thing. They certainly were in this case. I sent the lad his commission at once, of course."
"What did the master have to say?" asked Hamilton.
"I'm coming to that," the supervisor replied. "Two or three days later he came into my office.
"'I understand Wurtzi has secured the enumerator's job?' he said.
"'Yes,' I answered, 'it was a pretty close thing between you so I sent the papers to Washington to decide, and the Director ruled that the other was more satisfactory.' The schoolmaster laughed and sat down.
"'I don't know whether I ought to be angry or pleased,' he said; 'it all depends on how you look at it whether it can be considered as a compliment or an affront.'
"I just stared at him.
"'I don't follow you in the least,' I said. He laughed.
"'Of course you didn't know that Wurtzi was one of the boys in my school,' he replied, 'and more than that, he is the poorest boy in the school. He lives about three miles out of the village, and the only way in which he could secure his father's permission to allow him to come to school was that he should turn over to him the trifling sum we pay for janitor work.'"
"Pretty good stuff in the boy to want to learn under those conditions," commented Hamilton.