"How are you getting on?" I asked.
"Well enough. The bairns are nice."
"A little bit noisy," he added, "but, of course, I was prepared for
that. I heard about your experiment months ago. By the way, what sort of
a teacher is Miss Watson?"
"Excellent," I replied.
"How often did you examine her classes?"
"I never examined her classes, not formally, but her bairns spoke to me,
and I judged her work from their conversation."
"I examined their work yesterday; her spelling is weak and her geography
atrocious."
"Shouldn't wonder," I said carelessly. "I never bothered about those
things; I judged her work by what her bairns were, not by what they
knew. They're a bright lot when you ask them to think out things."
"No wonder they fired you out," he laughed; "you're impossible as a
dominie, you know."