“I should like to hear Snowball sing a song,” said Reynard. “He sings good.”
“He does not sing good, but he sings well,” corrected Miss Hare, in a low voice to Reynard. “Will you sing, Snowball?”
“I can’t sing to-night,” said Snowball. “I, too, have a bad cold.”
“You have a severe cold,” said Miss Hare. “It is as wrong to say that you have a bad cold as it is to say that you received a good whipping.”
Snowball was one of those individuals who do not like to be corrected, so for a few moments he shrugged his shoulders and pouted.
Miss Hare turned towards Tiny and said in a cheerful voice:
“Perhaps Tiny will tell us about Squirreltown.”
“Good! good!” shouted enthusiastic Winkie Weasel, leaping awkwardly into the air to show his delight. “Tell us about the time you wandered through the great forest and did not know where you were at.”
“Fy, fy, Winkie!” cried his teacher, shaking with laughter. “How you abuse such useful little words as at, to, and for. You make them work when they should be resting. You say that Tiny did not know where he was at, nor where he was going to, when you should say that Tiny did not know where he was, nor where he was going. One should not place at, to, for, or some other unnecessary little word at the end of a sentence.”
Snowball was very glad to hear the teacher correct Winkie, and soon he regained his usual good humor.