"Certainly. You took the outline and checked off the things you wished Theo to take this year."
"You did, Father," put in Theo.
"When did I do it?"
"Oh, one day when you were on your way to a hospital meeting," answered the boy. "You were in a hurry, and you stood out in the hall and marked the list with your fountain-pen."
"Then I am heartily ashamed of myself," confessed Dr. Swift candidly. "I had no right to do anything of the sort. I should have sat down and put some thought into the matter. Do you suppose it would be too late, son, for you to change your course of study this term?"
"I shouldn't want to change it much, Dad," replied Theo. "I'd be sorry to give up any of the things I am taking, for I have worked hard at them and it would be discouraging to have my time all thrown away. But perhaps now that I am knocked out of athletics I might put those extra hours into something else. Some of the boys take sloyd."
"The very thing!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Manual training is just what we're after. You would enjoy it, too."
"I don't know whether I would or not, Dad," returned Theo frankly. "I never was much good with tools. I like athletics better."
"That is because you have never learned to use tools properly," said his father. "Where do you suppose I'd be now if I hadn't started out when I was a boy to tinker round a farm? That's where I got my manual training, and there isn't a course in the country that can equal it. I had to use my brains, too, as well as my hands, for very often the things I needed were not to be had and I was forced to make something else do. It was a great education, I can tell you! What skill I have at surgery I attribute largely to that early training. Now we'll set right to work to remedy this lack in you, son. I'll see your principal to-day and arrange for you to begin sloyd when you go back to school."
Theo made a grimace at which his father laughed.