It was a beautiful morning in June when Tommy Woggs left his home to go to school, after the events which I have related in the last chapter.
He did not want to go to school—of course he did not, or he would not have pretended to be sick, that he might stay at home. The grass looked so green, and the birds sang so sweetly, that he wished to have a good time with them in the fields.
If he had been a good boy, and had always done his duty in school, he would not have felt so; and he was just as much to blame for feeling wrong as he was for doing wrong.
I have always noticed that children who behave well, and get their lessons, like to be in school. It is a pleasant place to them. And doing right always makes us happy, wherever we are.
But those who are naughty, and neglect their duties, are always in trouble; and for this reason they hate school. It is their own fault, however, that they dislike it, for if they did right, they would be happy not only there, but everywhere else.
Tommy dragged along the street like a snail, or like a sheep led to the slaughter. When he got about half way to the school house, he met Joe Birch and Ben Tinker.
My readers already know Joe Birch, and know that he was a bad boy; and I suppose, after being told that Ben Tinker was his constant companion, they can easily guess what kind of a boy he was. They were very much alike, and were the leaders in all the mischief done in Riverdale.
"Where are you going, Tommy?" asked Ben.
"I am going to school," he replied, stopping to talk with the two boys, who were seated on a rock at the side of the road.
"Have you got any money, Tom?" said Joe.