The essay I set to-day was this:--"Imagine that you are an old lady who
ordered a duck from Gamage's, and imagine that they sent you an
aeroplane in a crate by mistake. Then describe in the first person the
feelings of the aviator who found the duck awaiting him at breakfast
time."
One girl wrote:--"Dear Mr. Gamage, I have not opened the basket, but it
seems to be an ostrich that you have sent. What will I feed it on?"
A boy, as the aviator, wrote: "If you think I am going to risk my life
on the machine you sent you are wrong. It hasn't got a petrol tank."
The theme was too difficult for the bairns; they could not see the
ludicrous side. I don't think one of them visualised the poor old woman
gazing in dismay on the workmen unloading the crate. H. M. Bateman
would have made an excellent drawing of the incident.