“So it happened, when they all left school, Oscar was himself surprised to find that the boys of his age were ahead of him in various ways.  A large class went on to the high school; but Oscar, as it proved, was not at all fitted.

“And his father took him round from one place to another to try to get some occupation for him.  He looked so bright that he was taken for an office-boy here and there; but he never stayed.  The fact was, the only thing he could do well was to fling balls up in the air and catch them in turn, without letting them drop to the ground; and this he could only do best on the sly, behind somebody’s back.  Now this, though entertaining to those who saw it for a little while, did not help on his employers, who wondered why they did not get more work out of Oscar.

“A certain Mr. Spenser, a friend of Oscar’s father, asked him to bring his boy round to his office, and he would employ him.  ’He will have to do a little drudgery at first, but I think we can promote him soon, if he is faithful.’

“So Oscar went with his father to Mr. Spenser’s office.  Mr. Spenser started a little when he saw Oscar; but after talking awhile, he went to his table, and took from a drawer two balls.  ’My little boy left these here this morning,’ he said.  ‘How long do you think,’ turning to Oscar, ‘you could keep them up in the air without letting them drop?’

“Oscar was much pleased.  Here was his chance; at this office the kind of thing he could do was wanted.  So he dexterously took the balls, and flung them up and down, and might have kept at it all the morning but that Mr. Spenser said at last, ’That will do, and it is more than enough.’  He said, turning to Oscar’s father:  ’As soon as I saw your boy I thought I recognized him as a boy I saw one day in the school flinging balls up in the air on the sly behind his teacher’s back.  I’m sorry to see that he keeps up the art still.  But I felt pretty sure that day that he couldn’t have learned much else.  I should be afraid to take him into my office with a propensity to do things on the sly, for I have other boys that must learn to be busy.  Perhaps you can find some other place for Oscar.’

“But Oscar could not find the kind of place.

“His friend, Seth Clayton, had been fond of collecting insects all through his school years.  Oscar used to laugh at his boxes full of bugs.  But Seth used to study them over, and talk about them with his teacher, who told him all she knew, and helped him to find books about them.  And it was when she was leaning over a beautiful specimen of a night-moth that Oscar had performed his most remarkable feat of keeping three balls in the air for a second and a half.  This was in their last school year.

“And now, after some years more of study, Seth was appointed to join an expedition to go to South America and look up insects along the Amazon and in Brazil.

“‘Just what I should like to do,’ said Oscar; for he had studied a little about the geography of South America, and thought it would be fun catching cocoanuts with the help of the monkeys, and have a salary too.  ‘That is something I really could do,’ said Oscar to Seth.  But Seth went, and Oscar was left behind.