(Just then Curiosity pipes up, raising hand as she asks.) “Teacher, did you ever see a hair die?”
Teacher. “Certainly not.”
Curiosity Cornhusk. “Or ink stand?”
Teacher. “No! Do be quiet.” (Turns to class.) “Now do you know whether any one is going to try to discover the South Pole?”
Fanny. “Oi ain’t going.”
Teacher. “Oh, Fanny, my child, you must not say, ‘I ain’t going.’ You must say, ‘I am not going.’ It’s like this: ‘I am not going; he is not going; she is not going; we are not going; you are not going; they are not going.’ Now, can you say all that Fanny?”
Fanny. “Shure Oi can. ‘There ain’t nobody going.’”
Teacher waves her aside in despair. Asks others: “Which of you can describe the backbone?”
Geraldine (raises hand, standing on one foot in her eagerness to answer). “The backbone is something that holds up the head and ribs, and keeps you from having legs clear up your neck.”
Teacher. “Now, children, what is a cat covered with? Is it wool? Is it fur? Is it feathers? Is it hair?”