"Certainly I do. That is the minimum salary I pay my clerks."
"Why, Ephraim would feel as rich as a king with that salary. When can you make room for him?" he added anxiously.
"I must ask a few questions first. Has your son a fair education?"
"He attended the district school till he was fifteen."
"Then I suppose he is well up in the fundamental rules of arithmetic?"
"What's them?"
"I suppose he can add, subtract and multiply."
"Oh, yes."
"And write a fair hand?"