The Little Old Woman rapped upon the table with a huge button-hook, and went about the business so briskly that before Miss Muffet knew what had happened, the meeting had adjourned.
"Were the papers so quick?" she asked.
"No, they weren't; papers are never that way."
"What were they about?"
"The white ones were about 'Child Study,' and the yellow ones were about 'Obedience to Parents' and 'Not Losing Your Thimble.' The yellow ones were the ones I knew best; I used to have them when I was a little girl."
"Then the white ones must be harder. Is Child Study harder than Arithmetic?"
"There are two kinds. One kind is where you take the children you are acquainted with and tell what you know about them. That kind isn't so good to make papers out of. It's too short. The other kind is where you get at 'the Contents of the Child's Mind.' I can't say that it's harder than Arithmetic, for it is Arithmetic, only it's further on than you've got. It's percentage. You take eleven hundred little girls in blue dresses and make them fill out blanks. You ask them which they like best, chocolate caramels or peppermint drops."
"Which do they like best?" asked Miss Muffet, who had often thought about that question herself.
"You can't tell," answered the Little Old Woman; "all you know is the answers: they depend on which words the little girls can spell easiest. The chief thing is to get the percentage. Then you write a paper. If it doesn't come out right, you ask eleven hundred little girls in pink dresses and they answer differently. Then you have a Problem."
"What is a Problem?" asked Miss Muffet.