Can he draw (not copy)? Can he speak French?
Does he write a good hand? Can he make anything? Can he saw a piece of
board straight? (Charles cannot, and every bit of carpenter work I have
to do myself.) Ask him to make you anything--a little card box, a
wooden peg or bottle-stopper, and see if he makes them neat, straight
and square. Charles never does anything the one or the other. Charles
has now been with me more than a year, and every day some such
conversation as this ensues: "Charles, look at these butterflies that
you set out yesterday." "Yes, sir." "Look at that one--is it set out
evenly?" "No, sir." "Put it right then, and all the others that want
it." In five minutes he brings me the box to look at. "Have you put them
all right?" "Yes, sir." "There's one with the wings uneven, there's
another with the body on one side, then another with the pin crooked.
Put them all right this time." It most frequently happens that they have
to go back a third time. Then all is right. If he puts up a bird, the
head is on one side, there is a great lump of cotton on one side of the
neck like a wen, the feet are twisted soles uppermost, or something
else.
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