her nephew. But he was so busy, keeping one eye on her and
one on the little boy on the other porch, that he did not have
time to use his ears at all and so did not hear one word.

"Leaving his camp fires burning to deceive the enemy, he stole
around by a circuitous route, fell upon the British and
captured--"

Billy held up his hands to catch a ball which Jimmy made believe
to throw.

Miss Minerva still read on, unconscious of her nephew's
inattention:

"The suffering at Valley Forge had been intense during the
winter--"

Billy made a pretense behind his aunt's upright back of throwing
a ball while the other child held up two fat little hands to
receive it. Again he laughed aloud as Jimmy spat on his hands
and ground the imaginary ball into his hip.

She looked at him sternly over her glasses:

"What makes you so silly?" she inquired, and without waiting for
a reply went on with her reading; she was nearing the close now
and she read carefully and deliberately.

"And he was chosen the first president of the United States."