The Snyvylville Do-Nothing Club Dr,
To James Clay.
To----
20 qts. wild strawberries, at .15 $3.00
Pay for picking the same, at .02 .40
-----
Balance $2.60
Rec'd Payment,
_July, 1879_. , Cr.
George stopped on the street in perfect amazement! Then rushed to
school, for the last bell was ringing.
At recess, he called a meeting of the club, and showed them the
document he had received.
Then there were grave faces and anxious discussions. How _could_ Mr.
Clay have found them out?
At last the president said:
"Well, we'll just have to pay him; there is no help for it. Every
one of the club must hand over twenty-six cents for his share. Here's
another thing we didn't plan for in the strawberry idea. For my part, I
wish 'Fragi Agrestes' had never been invented."
The club marched that very afternoon, in a body, to Mr. Clay's house to
pay their bill. No willing delegate was found to represent them. Once
there, the president had to make the speech.
"We've brought you your money, Mr. Clay. We can't imagine how you found
us out; but we hadn't the least notion of stealing! Somehow it never
entered our heads that it could be _stealing_, to help ourselves to
wild strawberries. I never thought of such a thing until I saw your
bill. There it is. Will you please receipt it? And we'll promise you we
won't be likely to get caught in such a scrape again."
"Thank you," said the farmer, putting the money in his pocket, and
taking up a pen to receipt the bill. "Boys, I'm not so anxious for
money that I had to have my pay for the berries you stole. But I
thought it would teach you a lesson; so I sent the bill to the
treasurer. And now I want to advise you to take a new name for your
club, for you won't prosper under the present one. When you aren't
planning to do anything but have fun, you'll get into mischief.
Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.