"How is your club getting along, Charlie?" asked Miss Bertha Barry, one
day, when she was calling at Aunt Stanshy's.

"We--we--don't meet," said Charlie, mournfully. Juggie was there, also,
calling on a once brother knight, and he, too, looked sad.

"Now I have an idea," said the teacher. "You know I like a good time as
well as any body, but I think if we have clubs, it is a good idea to make
them as useful as possible. If you meet again, remember, your name is
'Up-the-Ladder Club,' always to be climbing up, always to be advancing.
Now you can advance in this way; you can combine the literary element."

"Come-and-bine what?" asked Juggie.

"The literary element."

"De literal element?"

"Recitations and so on, I mean."

"We did have an entertainment," said Charlie, who was not disposed to
forget or disparage the glory of "departed days."

"But this is something different, and let me explain. Let us suppose that
we take the subject, 'Days of our Forefathers,' the times before or at the
Revolutionary War. One of you could be dressed as a farmer in those days,
and tell what farmers did; another as printer could tell what printers
did, and so on. That would give you an idea of those days, and make
something useful of your club."