Marvel Green was one of the innumerable throng of schoolboy
caricaturists. With periodic certainty he spread his drawings before
pupil eyes for his own glory.
[Sidenote: “Who Drew the Picture?”]
Miss Hatfield knew Earl Moss, another mischief-maker, so well that she
turned to him when she discovered a new “Green” on the blackboard and in
an official manner, asked:
“Did you draw that picture of me over there?”
“No I did not,” was Earl’s quick reply.
“Who did it then; I’m sure you know.”
“I won’t tell, Miss Hatfield.”
“You must tell me now. I’ll punish you if you don’t.”
Good sense came to her rescue and she postponed action until there was
time for reflection.
In the evening the boy’s father called and said:
“I understand that you are going to punish my boy if he does not tell
who drew the picture. Now I came to say that I can’t agree to that. I
don’t want my boy to do wrong, but I can’t allow him to be punished for
refusing to be a tattler. You must find some other way out of it.”
“Well,” thought Miss Hatfield, “he has a strange idea. I don’t want to
make a tattler out of his boy. He’s a queer one.”
She didn’t whip the boy, and she never learned who drew the picture.