"Well, no, come to think of it; he was some bigger than you. We were
graduating from college when we parted. But it seems a long time ago,
doesn't it, Charley?"

Daddy Bunker agreed to that. Then he and Mr. Armatage talked business
for a while. The owner of the Meiggs Plantation wished to get more land
and hire more hands for the next year, and through Mr. Bunker he
expected to obtain capital for this. Aside from business the two old
friends desired very much to renew their boyhood acquaintance and have
their wives and children become acquainted.

"I've got half as many young ones as you have, Charley," said Mr.
Armatage. "You've beat me a hundred per cent. I wonder if we keep on
growing if the ratio will remain the same?"

Russ knew what "ratio" meant, and he asked: "How can it keep that way if
we grow to be seven little Bunkers? You can't have three and a half
little Armatages, you know."

"That's a smart boy!" exclaimed the tall man, smiling. "He can see
through a millstone just as quick as any boy I know. We'll hope that
there will be no half-portions of Armatages. I want all my children to
have the usual number of limbs and body."

"If you have little girls, and one was only half a little girl," said
Rose, "she would be worse off than a mermaid, wouldn't she?"

"She certainly would," agreed the planter.

"Why?" demanded Vi, who did not understand.