"Oi'm thinking o' getting larning."
"Thinking o' getting larning!" the miner repeated in astonishment, "why, 'ee be just a dun o' getting larning. 'Ee ha' been at it for the last foive year, lad, and noo thou'st going to be done wi' it and to work in the pit."
"Oi'm a going to work in the pit, dad, and oi'm a gwine to get larning too. Oi've made oop my mind, and oi'm gwine to do it."
"But bain't 'ee got larning?" the miner said. "Thou canst read and write foine, which is more nor I can do and what dost want more?"
"Oi'm a going to get larning," Jack said again, steadily repeating the formula, "and oi'm gwine soom day to be a manager."
Bill Haden stared at the boy and then burst into a fit of laughter. "Well, this bangs a'."
Mrs. Haden was as surprised but more sympathetic.
"Bless the boy, what hast got in your head now?"
Jack showed not the slightest sign of discomfiture at his father's laughter.