"I'm glad I don't have to. I'm only in the chorus."
And so it went on, boys and girls from the higher grammar grades down to the kindergarten, talking and laughing together.
Finally, when the last of the straggling pupils had reached the school, the bell was rung, calling them into the big auditorium, where the closing exercises would be held. These would be over about noon, and there would be no other session.
After the usual exercises, singing, and the reading from the Bible, Mr. Tetlow said that there would be music and declamation. That last was a word the smaller pupils used but little. They called it "speaking pieces."
Nellie Somers was in the midst of declaiming a sad little piece about a boy who had lost his pocketbook. She recited the line:
"Where, oh, where, is Donald's money?"
And then, suddenly, as she paused for a moment, Bob Bouncer said in a shrill whisper:
"Fellows, I've got it!"
Instantly there was laughter, and poor Nellie, up on the platform, blushed and was unable to go on. All eyes were shifted to Bob, who turned red, and the principal, rising suddenly, looked sternly at the lad.
"Who said that?" he asked, sharply.
"I—I did, sir," stammered Bob.
"Why did you do it? Did you want to make trouble, and cause Nellie to feel badly—saying you had the pocketbook she spoke of?"
"No, sir. I didn't mean anything about a pocketbook. I wasn't even listening to what Nellie said."
"Then why did you speak? What did you mean when you said, so we all could hear you, that you had it?"
