“Better than they were when I took hold.”
“How about arithmetic and the other branches? Have you sort of kept them up to the course of study?”
“I have carried them in a course parallel to the text-books,” said Jim, “and covering the same ground. But it has been vocational work, you know—related to life.”
“Well,” said the colonel, “if I were you, I’d put them over a rapid review of the text-books for a few days—say between now and the twenty-fifth.”
“What for?”
“Oh, nothing—just to please me .... And say, Jim, I glanced over a communication you have started to the more or less Honorable Board of Education.”
“Yes?”
“Well, don’t finish it .... And say, Jim, I think I’ll give myself the luxury of being a wild-eyed reformer for once.”
“Yes,” said Jim, dazed.
“And if you think, Jim, that you’ve got no friends, just remember that I’m for you.”