THE PUZZLED PUPIL. 
301 
learn the table, so long as he had the book 
by him to look at ? 
“ But you cannot always have the book 
by you,” argued Richard. “ Suppose, for 
instance, you were out surveying: you would 
not like to carry a book and be obliged to 
look at it every time you wanted to know 
how much were six times seven, or how 
many feet make a rod.” 
Finally, Jack concluded to learn the tables, 
and did so,—though it was hard work, as he 
was not accustomed to commit to memory. 
He conquered them, however, and found 
them worth the trouble they had cost him. 
Compound numbers were passed through 
easily enough; but, when they came to vul¬ 
gar fractions, Jack found himself in deeper 
water. Perhaps the young teacher’s expla¬ 
nations were not the clearest in the world, 
or possibly the book might be in fault; but 
certain it is that Jack grew more and more 
puzzled every day, and finally, one afternoon, 
he threw down the book with an oath, de¬ 
claring that he would not touch the con¬ 
founded thing again. 
“ It seems to me that you are the one that 
is confounded, and not the book,” said Rich- 
26 
