"Are you lazy?" asked Harry, smiling at the other's frankness.
"A little so; that is, I don't improve my opportunities as I might. Father wants to make a lawyer of me so he has put me here, and I am preparing for Harvard."
"I envy you," said Harry. "There is nothing I should like so much as entering college."
"I daresay I shall like it tolerably well," said Oscar; "but I don't hanker after it, as the boy said after swallowing a dose of castor oil. I'll tell you what I should like better—"
"What?" asked Harry, as the other paused.
"I should like to enter the Naval Academy, and qualify myself for the naval service. I always liked the sea."
"Doesn't your father approve of your doing this?"
"He wouldn't mind my entering the navy as an officer, but he is not willing to have me enter the merchant service."
"Then why doesn't he send you to the Naval Academy?"
"Because I can't enter without receiving the appointment from a member of Congress. Our member can only appoint one, and there is no vacancy. So, as I can't go where I want to, I am preparing for Harvard."