'
Between half-past nine and half-past twelve, at the rate of eighty an hour,
he addressed all but half the five hundred envelopes. Then his friend
appeared, dolefully drunk. Thomas would not look at him.
'He'll finish the rest by dinner to-morrow,' said the miserable wife, 'and
that's in time.'
So Thomas Bird went home. He felt better at heart, and blamed himself for
his weakness during the day. He blamed himself often enough for this or
that, knowing not that such as he are the salt of the earth.
THE PIG AND WHISTLE
'I possess a capital of thirty thousand pounds. One-third of this is
invested in railway shares, which bear interest at three and a half per
cent.; another third is in Government stock, and produces two and
three-quarters per cent.; the rest is lent on mortgages, at three per cent.
Calculate my income for the present year.'
This kind of problem was constantly being given out by Mr. Ruddiman,
assistant master at Longmeadows School. Mr. Ruddiman, who had reached the
age of five-and-forty, and who never in his life had possessed
five-and-forty pounds, used his arithmetic lesson as an opportunity for
flight of imagination. When dictating a sum in which he attributed to
himself enormous wealth, his eyes twinkled, his slender body struck a
dignified attitude, and he smiled over the class with a certain genial
condescension.
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