"Of course not," said Hilda. "But why must you say anything, Bubble,—anything of that sort, I mean?"
"Oh!" said the boy, "I d' 'no 's I kin say ezackly why, Miss Hildy; but—but—wal, I swan! I mean, I—I don't mean I swan—but—there now! You see how 'tis, Miss Hildy. Things don't seem to hev no taste to 'em, without you say somethin'."
"Let me think," said Hilda. "Perhaps I can think of something that will sound better."
"I might say, 'Gee Whittekers!'" suggested Bubble, brightening up a little. "I know some fellers as says that."
"I don't think that would do," replied Hilda, decidedly. "What does it mean?"
"Don't mean nothing as I knows on," said the boy; "but it sounds kind o' hahnsome, don't it?"
Hilda shook her head with a smile. She did not think "Gee Whittekers" a "hahnsome" expression.
"Bubble," she said after a few moments' reflection, during which her scholar watched her anxiously, "I have an idea. If you must say 'something,' beside what you actually have to say, let it be something that will remind you of your lessons; then it may help you to remember them. Instead of Gee—what is it?—Gee Whittekers, say Geography, or Spelling, or Arithmetic; and instead of 'I swan,' say 'I study!' What do you think of this plan?"
"Fustrate!" exclaimed Bubble, nodding his head enthusiastically. "I like fustrate! Ge-ography! Why, that sounds just like pie! I—I don't mean that, Miss Hildy. I didn't mean to say it, nohow! It kind o' slipped out, ye know." Bubble paused, and hung his head in much confusion.
"Never mind!" said Hilda, kindly. "Of course you cannot make the change all at once, Bubble. But little by little, if you really think about it, you will bring it about. Next week," she added, "I think we must begin upon grammar. You are doing very well indeed in spelling and geography, and pretty well in arithmetic; but your grammar, Bubble, is simply frightful."