Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/23



That sounds like a joke, does it not? Whoever saw a long-legged old gentleman dressed in striped trousers, a swallow-tailed coat, and a hat decorated with stars sitting up there behind the teacher’s desk.

But this is one of your Uncle Sam’s little jokes; he is really a very good-natured person in spite of all the burdens that he has to carry on his shoulders. Uncle Sam goes to school every day. He has been going to school ever since your great, great grand-father sat on a hard bench in a little red schoolhouse somewhere way off in the country. One of the reasons why you have had some trouble with your lessons, and have not quite understood your new teacher, is that you couldn’t see Uncle Sam in the schoolroom.

As soon as Uncle Sam decided to go to school he laid out what he calls school districts. He wanted every boy and girl in his great United States family to have a chance to grow up an intelligent citizen. So he mapped out a good many school districts at convenient distances from each other in all parts of the country. In the center of each of these districts he established a certain amount of land and on it was Rh