Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/201

Rh his chair, with one foot stretched in front of him, the other toe hooked around the leg of his chair.

“George Washington,” he replied promptly, with a modest pride in the wisdom and novelty  of his choice.

“You all hear it?” asked President Bess. “Rob, as secretary, I want you to keep a list of the subjects and their dates. Then, six months from now, we will have an evening when each  one of you may take some one of these subjects  and write all you have learned about it; and  we will have these essays read before a small  and select audience. That will be about the last of October. And one thing more I have to say before our games. I want my boys to be careful about their positions, to sit up  straight like gentlemen, and not curl up like a  set of small caterpillars.”

The sudden effect of this last remark was comical to behold. Feet were firmly planted, backs straightened, shoulders squared, and coats pulled into place; while Teddy vainly tried to  conceal a yawning chasm in the knee of his  stocking, which had mysteriously appeared  since his arrival.