"Yes."
"Well, our yard hasn't a quarter of an acre in it, I am sure. Let's
measure it to-morrow, and see just what part of an acre there is in it."
"How can you tell?" replied Felix.
"Why, don't you know?" replied Johnny.
"No. How did you learn how?"
"Why, by studying square measure at school."
"I guess your schools are different from ours, then: I didn't learn any
thing but the table, and how to do a few sums; and just as soon as I had
learned that, I forgot all about it!--I say, I can't stand this! I'll
go and call Clyde in, and have a good time with him."
Clyde had been in so many times, putting his muddy paws upon the
furniture and her delicate dress, that Mrs. Le Bras was dismayed at this
announcement.
"I think you will enjoy yourself better with Clyde out on the platform,"
she suggested.
"Come, Johnny, let's go out, then," said Felix. "I'll show you some of
Clyde's tricks. He's a trained dog."
"Can't I go?" said Sue.
"Yes, come along if you want to; but I ain't used to having girls
tagging me around."
At first Sue was a little provoked, and thought she would not go; but
she was so fond of romping, that she soon followed the boys, saying to
her mother,--
"Johnny will have to romp now, whether he wants to or not."
"Poor Johnny!" sighed Mrs. Le Bras.
Presently Mr. Le Bras came in; and his wife told him how restless and
out of humor Felix had been, and said she could not imagine what they
were to do with him, especially evenings, if they tried to be at all
particular where he was, and what company he kept.
"We must manage it somehow," replied Mr. Le Bras thoughtfully; "and I
cannot have you and Johnny fretted either."
"I don't know but I had better go to the cottage, whether you can go or
not," continued Mrs. Le Bras; "for then he and Clyde will wear out and
soil Louis' furniture instead of ours. Clyde has nearly ruined my dress
already, by jumping up upon me in his good-natured way; and I have been
around trying to get stains off of the upholstering of the chairs. As
for Sue, I cannot pretend to dress her up at all nicely while the dog is
around; and I know it frets Johnny very much to have the mud-stains on
his new drab suit. If we were at the seaside, the children could dress
in common clothes, and there would be more harmless outdoor amusements."
"It will never do for you to take the whole charge of that boy: it would
make you ill. He must be under the eye of a man; I will see to him: and
as for Clyde, I will soon settle him. I hope to be able to leave my
business a while by the first of August, and then we will go to the
cottage: by coming back for a few days at a time, now and then, I think
I can stay some weeks; and whenever I come back, I shall bring Felix
with me, unless he has greatly improved."
Just then Johnny came in, and asked his father if he would let him take
his large tape-measure.
"What do you want it for?" replied Mr. Le Bras.
"I want to show Felix how to find out what part of an acre there is in
our yard."
"Hasn't he learned enough arithmetic to do that himself?"
"No, sir: he's been over as far as I have, but he says he don't know any
thing about square measure."
"I'll warrant!" replied Mr. Le Bras, taking the measure from one of the
drawers under the library-shelves, and handing it to Johnny.
When Johnny reached the garden again, he found Felix on the roof of the
shed.
"Come down, and help me measure, Felix," he said.
"No," replied Felix: "I'll sit up here, and see you do it."
"Oh! that's the kind of a surveyor you'll be," replied Johnny; "you'll
survey from a distance: but this is ever so much more interesting. Come,
Sue, you hold the measure for me, and I'll measure the width of the yard
first. Stand back there, and keep the measure close to the fence; and
when I say 'Come,' bring it to me."
As it was getting pretty dark, Felix could not see much except Johnny's
and Sue's forms as they moved about. Having measured the width of the
yard, Johnny measured the length.
"It is three times as long as it is broad," he announced.
"I could have told that without measuring," returned Felix scornfully.
"Arithmetic isn't of any use at all."
"You had better come down before it gets any darker," said Johnny, "or
you may fall."
"Fall! Oh, ho! I guess not! I ain't a baby."
"I'm going in now, to reckon this out," said Johnny. "Seventy-five feet
wide, and two hundred and twenty-five feet long, or twenty-five yards
wide, and seventy-five yards long. It will be easiest to find the
square yards."
"How do you find the square yards," demanded Felix.
"Oh! I know that," remarked Sue; "just multiply the yards long by the
yards wide: don't you, Prof.?"
"Of course," replied Johnny.
"'Of course!'" mimicked Felix. "Well, I guess I'll come down now, since
the prospect isn't as good as it might be."
Johnny went in to get a pencil and a piece of paper: Felix began to come
down from the roof by swinging himself off, and letting his feet rest
upon the slender railing that passed along the outer edge of the
platform. Just as he was putting his feet down, Clyde jumped upon him;
and in trying to extricate himself from the dog, and touch the railing
at the same time, he missed the railing in the darkness, and fell down,
giving an impatient exclamation of pain as he reached the ground.
Sue was frightened, and ran in with the announcement that Felix had
fallen off of the roof. Mr. Le Bras went out immediately, followed by
Johnny and Mrs. Le Bras. Felix had arisen, but was limping up the
steps, and half crying with pain. "Oh, dear!" said he, "I've sprained
my ankle awfully; so I'm about sure I can't ride my bicycle for a week;
and then I'd like to know what I'm going to do, staying around in the
house all the time!"
Johnny's heart sank: he had counted on Felix's being off on his bicycle
a good part of the next day, and what should he do if he were to be at
home all the time expecting him to keep him company. Would he be able
to enjoy his beautiful sky-room after all?
"Perhaps it is not as bad as you imagine, Felix," said his aunt
encouragingly, while his uncle helped him up the steps and into the
house; but the boy limped badly, and there was an expression of genuine
pain upon his face. Mr. Le Bras seated him in an easy-chair, and placed
another chair for him to rest his foot upon, while Mrs. Le Bras got the
arnica to bathe the ankle. After the ankle had been bathed and
bandaged, and the slippers which Sue had found in Felix's trunk
substituted in place of shoes, to accommodate the swollen foot, Felix
began to exclaim desolately at his forlorn condition. "I can't even do
any thing to amuse myself this evening," he said; "and it's no use to go
to bed, because my foot pains me so that I couldn't sleep, even if it
were not early in the evening."
"Sit up here by the table," replied Johnny, "and let's figure out what
part of an acre there is in the yard. Here's an extra pencil and sheet
of paper. It will be real fun: let's see who gets it right first."
"It won't be any fun at all," replied Felix; "just as if there is any
fun in figuring! you might as well say there is fun in going to school
and studying old dry books."
Johnny made no reply. He had begun to cipher.
"What are you going to do first?" asked Felix languidly.
"Why, multiply the length by the breadth in yards, to get the square
yards in the garden."
"What next?"
"Why, then reduce an acre to square yards, so as to know how many square
yards there are in an acre."
"I can do that," said Felix, looking slightly interested; "but I never
could see what use there was in it, and I don't see now."
"Come and do it, then," said Johnny coaxingly.
Felix hopped to the table slowly, on one foot, and sat down in the chair
Sue placed for him; while Johnny brought the other chair for his foot.
"How many square yards were there?" said Felix, taking the paper and
pencil, and resting the paper on a book he took from the table.
"You do it all yourself," replied Johnny; "seventy yards long, you know,
and twenty-five yards wide."
Presently Johnny stopped figuring.
"Have you got through?" asked Felix.
"No: I'm waiting for you to catch up."
"1,875 square yards," said Felix.
"Yes; and now reduce an acre to square yards."
After figuring a few minutes, Felix announced 4,840 square yards in an
acre. "What do you do next?" he said.
"One yard, then, would be what part of an acre?" asked Johnny.