CHAPTER I.

A KITCHEN SCENE.

Bridget and her little realm--A troop of rude intruders--An imperious
demand--A flat refusal--Prying investigations--Biddy's displeasure
aroused--Why Oscar could not find the pie--Another squabble, and its
consequences--Studying under difficulties--Shooting peas--Ralph and
George provoked--A piece of Bridget's mind--Mrs. Preston--George's
complaint--Oscar rebuked--A tell-tale--Oscar's brothers and sisters--His
father and mother.


CHAPTER II.

OSCAR IN SCHOOL.

Oscar's school--The divisions and classes--Lively and pleasant
sights--Playing schoolmaster--Carrying the joke too far to be
agreeable--Oscar's indolence in school--Gazing at the blackboard--A
release from study, and an unexpected privilege--Whiling away an
hour--Doing nothing harder work than studying--A half-learned lesson--A
habit of Oscar's--A ridiculous blunder--Absurd mistakes of the British
government about the great lakes--Oscar less pardonable than
they--Another blunder--Difference between guessing and knowing--Oscar
detained after school--His recitation--Good advice--Remembering the
blackboard--Willie Davenport--A pounding promised.