"I can't compare with your friend Oscar, Phil."
"I hope not. Oscar's about as mean a boy as I know. He's very different from you and Albert."
Meanwhile unconscious of the loss of one of their little household Mr. and Mrs. Sprague and Oscar slumbered on till after sunrise.
"Get up, Oscar!" called Nahum Sprague, going to his son's room. "You must get up."
"What must I get up for?" grumbled Oscar.
"Because you will have to do Philip's chores this morning."
"Why don't you call him, pa? I don't see why I should do his work."
"Because he is locked up for punishment. I am not ready to let him out yet."
"It seems to me I am being punished. He has nothing to do while I have to get up early and work."
"Would you be willing to change places with him, be locked up all day, live on bread and water, and sleep on the hard floor?"