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 the good candidate looks ridiculous. That's bad citizenship for everybody. It's bad citizenship here in the school to get people laughing at the home room. You see that, don't you?"

"I don't see as a laugh hurts anybody," Perry defended.

"But if it weakens something good, something that might be a stimulus"

"Where do you get that citizenship stuff?" Perry interrupted suspiciously. "From Mr. Banning?"

Praska nodded.

"Oh, that man." Perry snapped his fingers. "He's a pest. If he had only five minutes to live he'd say 'For five minutes we will consider the part that arbitration has played in American politics'."

Perry's voice was a faithful reproduction of the civics teacher's dry tones. Praska laughed and gave up the argument, and together they went down the stairs.

"I hope we're in the same room," said Perry.

They found, after pushing their way through the crowd that surrounded the bulletin board, that they were to be together in Room 13—and that Mr. Banning was to be the leader of the room. Perry gave a grunt of annoyance, and then became absorbed in something else. Care-